Steve Smith form trots on despite long wait for Test hundred
Usman Khawaja was quick to put Steve Smith's recent form into perspective as onlookers continue to criticize the former Australian skipper's long wait for another hundred.
Speaking about Smith's recent form, Khawaja said:
"He's looking really good and we're still sort of criticizing him and 'What's going on with Steve Smith? It's a credit to Steve. The fact he's averaged 60 for such a long time, the odds say he's going to get a big one very soon."
Given the lack of truly big scores in recent times, it's easy to fall into the "out of form" trap, but Smith's own career success has simply just elevated his lofty standards.
In the ongoing Benaud-Qadir series, he has looked strong in Pakistan and has not been dismissed for less than 55. His knock of 59 in Lahore on Monday added to his 78 and 72 in his first two innings of the series.
Steve Smith's series against Pakistan so far:
78 (196)
72 (214)
59 (169)
#PAKvAUS https://t.co/dqlQnbiUlj
He is the fifth-highest run-scorer in the series and the second-highest for Australia, with a tally of 209 runs. He currently averages 69.66 in this series.
Smith's hundred hunt
During the golden period of 2013-2019, Smith was notching up a Test hundred every 2.3 matches, with an average hovering around 70. Smith has not scored a Test hundred since January 2021, but his Test average since then is 44.64 — certainly nothing to scoff at.
Even though his last century came in January 2021, Australia did not play a Test between January and December of that year.
The only pitfall throughout that time period is scoring seven fifties in a row without converting one into a hundred. When he scored his last century, his conversion rate was nearly 50 per cent - 27 centuries and 29 half-centuries.
Since his last hundred, the most notable difference has been the tempo of his innings'. His 27 Test centuries were scored at a strike rate of 59, while in the ongoing Pakistan-Australia series his strike rate has so far been 36.09.
He is undoubtedly more conservative at the crease. It is by no means a negative trait, and was even the catalyst in wrestling back momentum for Australia on Day 1 of the third Test after they slumped to 8/2. But that is the only notable difference among the statistics.
Steve Smith just played one of the most elegant cover drives of his Test career…
#PAKvAUS https://t.co/nMWB7TG39F
As far as the ICC rankings are concerned, since January 2021, just the two batters have ranked above him on the ICC charts – Marnus Labuschagne and Joe Root. In the same time period, only Khawaja and Labuschagne have a better average among Australian batters.
Khawaja continued:
"He (Smith) is, in my opinion, the greatest batsman I've seen in my era – averaging 60 for pretty much his whole Test career."
He also added:
"It's easy to forget that now ... I'm still in awe of him (Smith) and how much runs he's scored over a long period of time. He's still consistent. It's so funny, when we're talking about Steve Smith not scoring hundreds he seems to be getting 70, 80 every game and doing it very easily, that's just the class that Steve Smith has."