FROM '22ND CENTURY' FOLKS!

The famous catchphrase -
"Ashes to Ashes
Dust to dust
If Lillee doesn't get you
Thommo must"
should be rephrased as -
"Ashes to Ashes
Dust to dust
If Smith doesn't get you a double
A hundred is a must"
According to me, 'Only the second exception to the Law of Averages' can be the only appropriate adjective to Steven 'The Alien' Smith. From scoring his slowest hundred to his fastest within a span of 2 weeks, Smith has been a very painful headache for England. If a grinding  hundred in 261 balls at the GABBA was not enough, the modern master put on a wonderful exhibition of a very high quality batsmanship at the WACA and went on to make it a double while extending the marathon innings to 239. It was the second double hundred of his career and against England. In the process, he became the third quickest to 22 test tons only behind Sir Donald Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar. The Aussie skipper is currently averaging above 62 which is unprecedented in the modern era.
   If you want to decode his technique, it's quite an easy job as he basically plays only a handful of shots. Majority of his runs come through the on side especially in the region between fine leg and mid wicket. He starts his stance well wide of leg stump and then the shuffling ends up having him in front of the wickets when playing shots. Many bowlers have tried to trap him in front of the wickets thinking that he will miss a straight one but he simply doesn't. As he shuffles across to the off stump, the flick becomes a very easy option to him and it makes him easily accessible to mid wicket and square leg. His backlift is also very interesting. A moment before playing any shot, his bat is generally pointing towards gully or even point. So his bat comes down in a very wide angle and therefore playing through the off side especially the cover drive becomes very difficult. Steve Smith doesn't have any problem with short balls. He pulls and hooks them for breakfast everyday and when the ball is slightly outside the off stump, he jumps all over it and cuts it behind the wicket. And how can we ever forget his characteristic leave which has him shouting at the bowler going a couple of steps down the pitch! Very seldom would you see him play a perfect cover drive or even an on drive for that matter. To make it simpler, Steve 'The Alien' Smith scores at an average of 62 playing only Flicks of his pads, Pulls and hooks which go racing away to the fence and fierce square cuts which literally get a slice of the red leather.
    Everyone talks about technique which I  think should not matter as long as someone is scoring as many runs as Smith is. I am sure that there will be a lot of talk about his 'unusual' technique as soon as bowlers find out some 'non-existant' weakness to get him out. This guy has shown that you can get runs everywhere without being technically perfect but having a very strong mind and as Geoffrey Boycott says, having the mentality that the bowlers can not get you out.
   Steven Smith has achieved so much and he is still only 28. Who knows, may be his best years are still ahead of him. From being an ordinary leg spinner who could bat a bit to the number one batsman in the world who is put next to Sir Don in every single list, what a romantic journey this has been!