Steve Smith speaks ahead of 2023-24 summer and Pakistan opening Test on career, moments that haunt him

At some stage this summer, Australian vice-captain Steve Smith will surpass 30,000 runs in first-class cricket, but the champion batsman is haunted by the hundreds which got away.

Smith, who will play his 103rd Test in the match against Pakistan beginning on Thursday at Perth Stadium, says his approach at the crease has changed now that he is in his 30s.

In an extended chat with Fox Cricket ahead of the opening Test of the summer, the champion batsman said he is “probably not as free flowing” now as he once was.

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“I’ve played for a long period of time. People know what to expect. So there’s that sort of added expectation potentially, that you know, I’m supposed to do really well or whatever,” he said.

“So you can play almost with less fear back then. I look back at some of the innings I played when I first started and I had no fear. I just went out and played, whereas now I look and sometimes my fear gets in the way of … what I’m trying to do.

“I’m probably not as free flowing in a way (because) I’m thinking through different scenarios and that might hold me back at certain stages.”

The past year has been richly rewarding for Australia but the 34-year-old is in the midst of a lean spell in his own career, having averaged 43.2 in 11 Tests and 31.4 in 16 ODIs in 2023.

Smith, who averages an outstanding 58.61 in Tests and 43.54 in ODIs, feels his best form is around the corner and he has prepared assiduously in the lead-in to the opening Test.

“I don’t have to reinvent the wheel. I think I’ve performed at a high standard for a long period of time. And you’re right, I was probably below my standards of what I want,” he said.

“So for me, it’s not overthinking it, not overplaying too much, not changing too much, just going out and trusting what I do and doing it for longer periods of time.”

In the extended interview, Smith canvassed the infancy of his career, his favourite innings, the wicketkeeper who had a profound influence on his career and, yes, those centuries that slipped away.

THE LESSONS LEARNT FROM A FIRST FORAY OVERSEAS

Smith loves cricket. It is a lifelong passion. And he decided from a young age that a career in the long whites was what he wanted. Half a lifetime ago he took a big step forward.

It is now 17 years since Smith, whose mother Gillian is English, headed to the United Kingdom to play for the Sevenoaks Cricket Club in Kent.

“I actually left school … six months early, or thereabouts, to go and give myself an opportunity to play over there (hoping) it was a stepping stone towards a professional career,” he said.

“I was still only 17, so it was a big move, but one that I think paid dividends in the end. It taught me a lot about life and growing up as a young kid and it gave me some exposure to those conditions as well. Being an overseas player, (there was) added expectation of performing.

“It was a huge learning curve for me at such a young age and one that I think worked well for me in the years to come.”

THE PATH TO DELIVERING ON A DREAM

Like every young cricketer, Smith harboured ambitions of the highest order while still wearing short pants. He was desperate to play for Australia and wear the ‘Baggy Green’.

“I worked hard from a very young age to try to be the best player that I could be. I loved the sport and I loved working on the game and just trying to improve each and every day,” he said.

“I probably didn’t know at that stage, when I was 17, that I could be in the position I am now. That was the dream. But there was a lot of work to do in front of me first.

“My first initial dream was to play for New South Wales and play (with) some of those guys that were there at that stage who were the heroes that I had growing up.

“Fortunately, a couple years down the line … I got the opportunity to play for New South Wales and that was a dream come true also.”

THE BLUE WITH THE SAFEST PAIR OF HANDS

Nurturing a talent within an elite team environment can be a tricky task, particularly in cricket given the vast differences in age and experience in man XIs.

Smith, who has made 9,320 runs in Test cricket, debuted for his state as an 18-year-old in January, 2008, when making 33 as NSW defeated Western Australia.

A guiding light from the start of his Sheffield Shield career was his future Australian teammate Brad Haddin, who has played a significant role mentoring Smith.

“I think Brad Haddin was big for me. I think he was, maybe, a fan of me growing up and thought I had some potential to play at that level and maybe get to the next level,” Smith said.

“So he was very helpful with a few things throughout my journey. And making me fit into that culture in New South Wales, he was a big part of that.”

Smith, who was the leading wicket taker in the 2008 Big Bash, also had his first taste of leadership due to Haddin in short-form cricket.

When the wicketkeeper-batsman was busy with national duties in 2011, Smith was called on to captain the Sydney Sixers at the relatively tender age of 22.

“I remember I got the opportunity to captain the Sixers in Brad’s absence that first year and I was captaining guys like Brett Lee and Stuart MacGill … two who I had watched play for Australia for a long period of time,” he said.

“I wanted to get to that position myself, so it was a bit intimidating at times, but you know, I was able to do the job well and we ended up winning the title that year. And that was a special memory and something that I look back on fondly.

“It was a great learning experience to be able to lead those older players and do it my way.”

THE CHALLENGES OF MATURING FROM A YOUNG GUN TO AN EXPERIENCED HAND

As Smith assessed his career, he noted how much his approach has changed to batting from his debut at Lords in 2010 through to recently playing his 100th Test during the Ashes series midway through the year.

“You could play almost with less fear back then,” he said.

“I look back at some of the innings I played when I first started and I had no fear. I just went out and played, whereas now I look and sometimes my fear gets in the way of … what I’m trying to do. I’m probably not as free flowing in a way (because) I’m thinking through different scenarios and that might hold me back at certain stages.

“But … now I have learned to deal with pressure differently. I like those pressure situations and I want to be the one involved in them.

“It’s cool how things progress and you play in different ways at different stages of your career, I suppose.”

BITTER-SWEET RETURNS IN MOHALI

Smith is the only player to win the ICC Test Player of the Year award more than once.

The records he has set are numerous, among them the fact he has taken less innings than any other player who has made at least 32 Test centuries to reach the mark.

But regrets at the crease? Smith has a few. The potential centuries he threw away are never far from surfacing during the chat about his career.

“(It is) just ones where I make dumb decisions, really. If I get a decent ball, or whatever, and I get out, I deal with that,” he said.

“But ones where I’m like, ‘Jesus, I should have done something different’. They’re the ones that sort of haunt me.”

Smith showed promise during the 2010-11 Ashes series on Australian soil when batting at No.6, scoring a couple of half-centuries, before dropping out of the team for two years.

His next chance came courtesy of the bizarre “homework” saga which saw four of his teammates, including current opener Usman Khawaja, banished for a tour of India in 2013.

The right-hander performed immediately, making 92 before being stumped by MS Dhoni off the bowling of Pragyan Ohja. The stumping still stings, but it added a tactic to his skillset.

“I threw away 100. I got out stumped. But I learned something that day as well,” Smith said.

“I got out stumped, lunging at a ball and my foot dragged, so now when I face a ball that is spinning away consistently, I’m bringing my stance back slightly so that when I land and I drag my foot, it’s always in the crease. So it was a big learning curve that day.”

THE IMPORTANCE OF INDIA

It is a decade since that tour of India but it is one that Smith looks back fondly upon, for it proved a career-defining trip for him.

Over the past week in Perth, Smith has spent significant time working on his batting craft in the middle of the ground and in the nets. It is an ethic that has long stood him in good stead.

“That was my first real opportunity to play since I’d gotten rid of my bowling. I had come to terms with that in the two years leading up (to the tour, pondering) ‘What is my best way to get back into that Australian team? What is my best way forward?’. And I felt as though getting rid of my bowling and focusing on my batting was that,” he said this week.

“I’d had a really good couple of weeks in India, working in the nets, facing spinners non-stop. I always thought I was a decent player of spin but playing in those conditions is challenging. “So finding ways to go about it was important for me and finding the right tempos and how to do it, so I had a really good lead-in in the nets and faced lots and lots of bowlers.

“I found the right way to play, in my view, and thought if I got the opportunity, I wanted to go out and play that way and have the courage to play the way I wanted to play.

“I think I might have even got off the mark by coming down the weekend and hitting … a six.”

AN ASHES TON AND A MAIDEN CENTURY ON HOME SOIL

Every century is special, Smith says, but those in the infancy of his career feel especially so.

A maiden century got away from “Smudge” in a difficult Ashes Tour in 2013 when, with Australia trailing 2-0, an opportunity presented itself at Old Trafford, with Smith falling for 89.

Not surprisingly, he muttered with some disgust; “I threw that one away too.”

But a couple of Tests later the century he had craved arrived at The Oval. And once again it was an old mate who helped steer him to success.

“I had Brad Haddin up the other end, who had helped me a lot growing up through the New South Wales system. To have him up the other end gave me courage,” he said.

“I remember two Tests before, when I should have got 100 – I got an 89 at Old Trafford – I tried to smack (Graeme) Swann out of the park and it wasn’t the smartest move.

“And I remember Haddin saying to me – Jonathan Trott was bowling – ‘Why don’t you just hit him for six?’. I’m like, ‘Geez, I tried that last game and didn’t work out well for me, but … if he puts it in the slot, I’m going to take him’.

“I got a ball that I liked and I knew as soon as I hit it that it was going for six. So it was a special moment and one that I won’t forget.”

Smith, who has batted superbly in several Ashes series, notched his maiden ton in Australia in the return series held later that year at the WACA.

“(It was) my first 100 at home (and it came in) precious sort of circumstances. The Ashes were there to be won. We were up two-nil but we were in a bit of trouble,” he said.

“That innings was one where I’ve gained a lot of confidence … coming up against guys like Stuart Broad and Jimmy Anderson, who had played a lot of cricket at that stage (and were) quality Test bowlers, to be able to get 100 against them also gave me a lot of confidence, especially to get my first 100 in Australia.”

STEVE SMITH AND THE SUPERSTITIONS

It sounds like a catchy name for a band. But Smith credits the quirks he is famous for as intrinsic to his success as a Test cricketer, though not all have stayed with him.

There was a period where Smith refused to eat duck the night before a match.

But then he accidentally tucked into the delicacy during the 2015 Ashes and went on to score a double-century.

He has taped his shoelaces to his socks for several years, a habit he picked up while playing in the Indian Premier League.

In the documentary The Test said he taps his left knee pad once, followed by his right, then touches his protective box and taps his bat on the ground, once in front of him and two times behind his feet while at the crease.

“I make sure I do the same thing every time I go out to play and it just becomes my routine rather than a sort of superstition,” he said.

“(Others are) probably not as bad as me. I think when it comes to my batting, and it’s my turn to bat, people know to just sort of let me have my space, leave me alone, basically, and let me try and get into that bubble that … I strive for it.”

THE SIR GARFIELD SOBERS CRICKETER OF THE YEAR?

Quizzed as to his recollections on becoming the youngest man to win the ICC Sir Garfield Sobers Award as the Cricketer of the Year in 2015, Smith pauses for a second.

To paraphrase the champion; “What is it? I won it? I don’t even know what that is.”

When informed it is just one accolade among many, the Australian said he is driven by scoring the next run, not by the countless awards he has won during his career.

“I have probably got them stored away somewhere. But while I’m still playing, it’s nothing that I’m kind of interested in. I just want to do what I can for the team,” he said.

“Maybe one day I’ll pull them out and look back on them and think differently, but right now, I’ve never been one to play for personal sort of accolades.

“I’ve always wanted to just go out and do my best and help whichever team I’m playing with have success and that has been it for me.”