While Steve Smith is trying to advance his skills by remaining motionless, the Twenty20 World Cup this month might be going too far.
Smith has given up his signature shuffle around the wicket in favor of trying to reclaim a permanent spot in Australia’s Twenty20 team for the World Cup later this month with South Africa’s heavyweight Test fast bowlers touring this summer.
Tim David, who put up yet another great effort in Friday night’s victory over the West Indies by scoring 42 from just 20 balls, has increased the pressure on Smith to keep his T20 spot. He made 17 out of 16 balls.
Smith thinks that by adopting a more statuesque batting stance, he will have a better chance of playing in Australia’s opening T20 World Cup match against New Zealand on October 22 in Sydney. Additionally, he believes it will put him in better form for the summertime Test series against South Africa.
In an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, he said, “A couple of the ways I’ve got out against them in the past, I’ve actually squared up a bit off the back foot and been caught behind a couple of times with some of their bouncier bowlers. Having guys like [Kagiso] Rabada, and [Marco] Jansen now, who are quite tall and get extra bounce, hopefully being a bit more side-on will enable me to leave the ball better and just get in better positions.”
Smith has always maintained his position when facing spinners, but when facing fast bowlers, he shuffled across the crease, covering his off stump, giving the quicks little room for error as he picked off balls through the leg side and pounced on anything with width outside the off stump.
Despite maintaining a high average, Smith only scored a century in one of his following 31 Test innings before scoring an undefeated 145 (and a duck) in his most recent match, which took place in Sri Lanka in July.
Despite his brilliance, Smith risks becoming a boundary-side spectator during Australia’s T20 World Cup campaign a year after he modestly contributed to the squad that won this nation’s first T20 World Cup due to his absence of a brutal power game.
Smith, though, thinks that his attempt to play the power game is what has brought him to this point in his journey.
He further added, “So I’m just being authentic and playing my way, and if I do that, I feel I’m good enough for any team.”
