'Nowhere near his best' - Michael Vaughan's grim take on Australian batter on Day 2 of BGT 2024-25 3rd Test
Former England captain Michael Vaughan felt Australia's Steve Smith was 'nowhere near his best' amid his ongoing scratchy knock on Day 2 of the third Border-Gavaskar series Test at The Gabba in Brisbane. The ace middle-order batter came into the clash with a string of poor scores and desperately needed some runs.
The opinions regarding Smith's poor series so far have been conflicting. Some have branded him well past his prime and old, unable to deal with high-quality bowling. However, some have showcased some sympathy, citing his dismissals to exceptional bowling, and poor luck.
Smith walked out to bat in the 19th over, and his shuffle across the crease almost landed him in trouble immediately. Since then, he has largely looked to survive, akin to a walking wicket looking to get to the other end.
Smith survived a couple of very close LBW calls in his stay at the crease. The batter was trapped in front while not offering a shot off Mohammed Siraj's bowling, where the umpire's call of not out saved him on the DRS. In another instance, he was struck right in front of a very full delivery by Akash Deep. However, a faint inside edge helped him in this case.
Vaughan noted that Smith was having trouble in the middle when he was nicking and missing deliveries that he usually easily dispatches.
“This shot makes me think he is nowhere near his best. When he is batting well he is smashing that through mid-wicket for four," Vaughan said on Fox Cricket
Smith's series began with a golden duck against Jasprit Bumrah in Perh. He was caught behind twice, with his run tally reading 19 runs after two matches.
"I don’t know that I’ve seen anyone fiddle around so much with different techniques" - Former Australia captain Allan Border on Steve Smith
Steve Smith tweaked his trigger movement and stance after his earlier approaches in the series resulted in failures. With his feet pointing towards cover, and a lavish trigger movement, bringing him outside the off stump to play across the line, the technique has shaped him to survive so far, but not with much conviction.
His head has fallen across on several occasions while trying to play inside the line, and former Australian skipper Allan Border was not convinced by the constant changes.
“I don’t know that I’ve seen anyone fiddle around so much with different techniques. We’re talking the third Test match and he’s tried three or four different methods already... that’s different to most. I don’t know many players who have done that type of tinkering with their technique," Border said on Fox Cricket
As of writing, Smith is unbeaten on 25 runs off 68 deliveries as Australia headed to Lunch on Day 2 without any more casualties.