K's hommage to Steve Smith

[K]

If Bradman had batted on these dead pitches that Flat-Track Bully Smith relies on, he'd have averaged 200.

FTB's average that you are fixated on like Rain Man is meaningless. It's just 'cos the pitches have been dead. And now international sides have worked out FTB's defective technique even on dead pitches. They've worked him out. Look at his performance in the last 5 years. In the last five years, FTB Smith has had only one good series.

Even England have now worked him out. Look at FTB's average in the last Ashes series. They destroyed his defective technique. Even Head did well... And we still don't know if Head is any good at Test level. Even Mr. NickIt, Khawaja, scored two very cheap centuries on the dead SCG pitch... Head gifted him those centures by getting COVID.


Smith swiped across the line to be clean bowled off stump by a standard vanilla ball by Hasaranga in the first slogathon. Did you see it? Or do you get spontaneous blindness whenever Smith's defective technique shows up?

We've seen it again and again before. Some folks may wonder why coaches don't just tell Smith to stop swiping across the line to the legside. The problem is, that's the only way he can score. If he doesn't swipe across the line to the legside, he won't score at all... So of course then he gets clean bowled over and over again by spinners who spin the ball away from him. Leggies and SLA bowlers. Remember the harmless ball Leach bowled him with in the SCG Test? Or have you got amnesia?

[Pies4shaw]

I don't know why you bother to post about Smith. You lost the cricket plot a lot time ago. Smith bats on the same tracks as all the rest of them. Only a moron would think that he somehow always gets the best of each pitch he bats on. His record is head and shoulders ahead of everyone except Bradman.

Here's the list of all batsmen with a Test average of 50 or more who played at least 25 Tests - Australians bolded:

Player Span Mat Inns NO Runs HS Ave 100 50 0
DG Bradman (AUS) 1928-1948 52 80 10 6996 334 99.94 29 13 7
H Sutcliffe (ENG) 1924-1935 54 84 9 4555 194 60.73 16 23 2
SPD Smith (AUS) 2010-2022 82 147 17 7784 239 59.87 27 33 6
KF Barrington (ENG) 1955-1968 82 131 15 6806 256 58.67 20 35 5
ED Weekes (WI) 1948-1958 48 81 5 4455 207 58.61 15 19 6
WR Hammond (ENG) 1927-1947 85 140 16 7249 336* 58.45 22 24 4
GS Sobers (WI) 1954-1974 93 160 21 8032 365* 57.78 26 30 12
KC Sangakkara (SL) 2000-2015 134 233 17 12400 319 57.4 38 52 11
JB Hobbs (ENG) 1908-1930 61 102 7 5410 211 56.94 15 28 4
CL Walcott (WI) 1948-1960 44 74 7 3798 220 56.68 15 14 1
L Hutton (ENG) 1937-1955 79 138 15 6971 364 56.67 19 33 5
JH Kallis (ICC/SA) 1995-2013 166 280 40 13289 224 55.37 45 58 16
GS Chappell (AUS) 1970-1984 87 151 19 7110 247* 53.86 24 31 12
AD Nourse (SA) 1935-1951 34 62 7 2960 231 53.81 9 14 3
SR Tendulkar (INDIA) 1989-2013 200 329 33 15921 248* 53.78 51 68 14
KS Williamson (NZ) 2010-2021 86 150 14 7272 251 53.47 24 33 9
BC Lara (ICC/WI) 1990-2006 131 232 6 11953 400* 52.88 34 48 17
Javed Miandad (PAK) 1976-1993 124 189 21 8832 280* 52.57 23 43 6
R Dravid (ICC/INDIA) 1996-2012 164 286 32 13288 270 52.31 36 63 8
Mohammad Yousuf (PAK) 1998-2010 90 156 12 7530 223 52.29 24 33 11
Younis Khan (PAK) 2000-2017 118 213 19 10099 313 52.05 34 33 19
RT Ponting (AUS) 1995-2012 168 287 29 13378 257 51.85 41 62 17
A Flower (ZIM) 1992-2002 63 112 19 4794 232* 51.54 12 27 5
MEK Hussey (AUS) 2005-2013 79 137 16 6235 195 51.52 19 29 12
S Chanderpaul (WI) 1994-2015 164 280 49 11867 203* 51.37 30 66 15
SM Gavaskar (INDIA) 1971-1987 125 214 16 10122 236* 51.12 34 45 12
SR Waugh (AUS) 1985-2004 168 260 46 10927 200 51.06 32 50 22
ML Hayden (AUS) 1994-2009 103 184 14 8625 380 50.73 30 29 14
AB de Villiers (SA) 2004-2018 114 191 18 8765 278* 50.66 22 46 8
AR Border (AUS) 1978-1994 156 265 44 11174 205 50.56 27 63 11
V Kohli (INDIA) 2011-2022 99 168 10 7962 254* 50.39 27 28 14
IVA Richards (WI) 1974-1991 121 182 12 8540 291 50.23 24 45 10
DCS Compton (ENG) 1937-1957 78 131 15 5807 278 50.06 17 28 10

[K]

[Pies4shaw]

Grow up.

Ponting averaged 26.5 in India. Smith averages 60.

[K]

They batted at the same time?? Really?

You are cognitivey challenged.

Ponting (and others) had a clear problem with Harbhajan.

Has Smith ever batted against Harbhajan??

We know that Herath destroyed Smith's defective technique. Lucky for Smith fanboys, Herath retired soon after... And Oz play Sri Lanka about once every decade anyway...


Smith has problems even with part-timers who spin the ball away. e.g. Dean Elgar!!!

[Pies4shaw]

[K]

Have you yet looked at Smith's pathetic average in the last Ashes series?? Or are you too scared?

Even dopey England have worked him out now.

[Pies4shaw]

Ponting was dismissed 25 times in 14 Tests in India, as follows:

Kapoor
Prasad

Raju (twice)

Kumble (twice)

Kumble (Australia batted once)

Singh (Australia batted once)

Singh (twice)

Singh (twice)

Kumble
Kartik

Singh (for 123)
Sharma

Sharma (twice)

Sehwag (Australia batted once)

Singh
Run out

Run out
Sharma

Raina
Khan

[K]

I notice the run outs. Yup, they sure did reduce Ponting's averages. (Run out 15 times just in Tests.)

OTOH, Smith is like Steve Waugh. He always makes sure it's his batting partner that is run out. (The figures on Waugh boning his batting partner are atrocious!)

[Pies4shaw]

You have no idea and should plainly just give it away. Even when he got run out, he got run out by spin bowlers.

[K]

[Pies4shaw]

Just find a new hobby.

[K]

Wowee... Even the clueless media have noticed that FTB Smith has dropped 6 catches already in this series.

Has he dropped the series?? On dead pitches ya can't afford to drop catches.

[Pies4shaw]

For those who actually enjoy watching Test cricket and seeing great players maintain their greatness, it is notable that Steve Smith has batted himself back into cricketing immortality (again) as the only player since Bradman to play at least 25 Tests and maintain an average over 60.

Given the improved standards of play in all aspects of the game - and the modern requirement to play in all sorts of conditions all around the globe, it is getting to the point that there is a new issue that needs to be considered.

Instead of us just asking whether Smith is the best since Bradman, we must now ask:

Is Smith the single greatest Test batsman of all time?

Instead of calling Smith "The Modern Day Bradman", should we start referring to Bradman as "The Steve Smith of the 20th Century" or Don "SPDS" Bradman?

Bradman will always have a special place in our hearts, of course - but he's plainly been overtaken, now, by the greatest of them all.

[Pies4shaw]

They just put up the comparison between Smith and Tendulkar after 148 Test innings. Smith, unsurprisingly (because he's now laying claim to being the best batsman of all time) has more runs than Tendulkar, a higher average, a higher highest score, more 100s and more combined 100s and 50s.

They're close, of course, because Tendulkar played so much Test cricket on the flat sub-continent - but Smith puts him in the shade in every conceivable way.