Australia v South Africa Tests – Men
Centurion Steve Smith believes he missed out on some invaluable batting time against spin ahead of the India tour next month
Andrew Ramsey at the SCG
5 January 2023, 08:12 PM AEST
@ARamseyCricket
True to his reputation for ignoring convention and finding his own way, Steve Smith has admitted he was angry at losing his wicket soon after posting a century today because he was keen to use the ensuing hours as experimental batting practice to prepare for Australia's upcoming India tour.
The combination of a dry, slow SCG pitch and South Africa deploying a two-pronged spin attack had prompted speculation leading into the third NRMA Insurance Test it loomed as a perfect opportunity for Australia to shape their game plans for the four-match India campaign beginning next month.
When that scenario was presented to some of Smith's teammates prior to the current game, they dismissed it using variations of the 'one game at a time' cliché and added the lure of World Test Championship points on offer against South Africa ensured their focus remained firmly fixed on this week.
But Smith exploded that myth at the close of play today, after his 30th Test century lifted Australia to a dominant 4-475 with almost 50 overs lost to bad weather across two days, when he revealed why he had appeared so disconsolate at losing his wicket half an hour before tea.
"I just missed out on happy hour," Smith said, in part referencing the 83 minutes of batting pyrotechnics launched by teammate Travis Head in the final session where the left-hander blasted 70 from 59 balls.
"It was the time to start playing some shots, as Heady just did.
"It was time to have some fun, and I was actually going to start practicing a few things like sweeping and things like that with our upcoming Indian tour.
"I know that sounds bad in a way, but I felt like it was an opportunity to do that against some good spinners."
The fact Smith acknowledges his mind was turning to the upcoming trip to India – where Australia's sole series win in the past 50 years came in 2004 – during the course of a Test match against an altogether different opponent says much about how importantly his team views that challenge.
And the complementary reality they have lost just one wicket to spin – Smith's admitted lapse in concentration when he bunted a simple return catch to left-armer Keshav Maharaj – on a pitch that was supposed to take considerable turn augurs well for their next assignment.
They embark on that India trip at the end of this month knowing that, of their expected top six, four of them rate among the most successful Australia batters in subcontinent conditions over the past decade.
Of the Australia men's players to have batted five and more times and averaged over 40 in Asian countries (including the UAE) since the start of 2013, the four-person list shows only current members of the Test starting XI.
Usman Khawaja leads that group with an average of 61.3 (with three hundreds and four 50s), followed by Alex Carey (53.6 with two 50s), Smith (50.9 with five centuries, eight 50s) and injured all-rounder Cameron Green (43.2 with two 50s).
The exceptions are in the current line-up are Head, who was pleased with the way he dismantled South Africa's spin in today's blistering assault, and opener David Warner who boasts more experience than any other current Australia batter on India pitches and posted a double-century in his previous Test outing.
Of course, India's spinners will pose a vastly greater threat than have the Proteas pair in conditions where residual dampness have not only made it tough to grip the ball, but negated the amount of turn being extracted from a contrastingly bone-dry pitch.
But while Maharaj doesn't carry the same fear factor as India's fellow left-armer Ravindra Jadeja on home pitches, and off-spinner Simon Harmer is certainly no Ravichandran Ashwin given the disparity in their Test wicket tallies (34 compared to 449), the South Africa pair are no pushovers.
Maharaj began the Australia tour rated ahead of pace-bowling teammates Anrich Nortje and Marco Jansen, and with only Ashwin, Jadeja and Nathan Lyon ahead of him among spinners on the ICC World Test rankings.
And for all his lack of international experience having played just eight previous Tests before this week, 33-year-old Harmer has been a stand-out performer for Essex in the UK county competition since 2017 and boasts almost 850 first-class wickets.
"I did feel Harmer's a nice bowler, he puts good revs on the ball and presents different seams and potentially in the second innings he could be more dangerous when there's a bit more traffic on the surface," Smith said this evening.
"But I didn’t feel there was a great deal of spin today.
"Probably when they took the second new ball there was a bit more natural variation.
"We've only played 131 overs, so there hasn't been two full days of cricket, it's been one and a half days.
"I think you'll see more and more spin as the game goes on, as those footmarks start to wear."
Smith's refutation of teammate Marnus Labuschagne's day one assessment that he's never before played on an SCG pitch that "turned as much from the middle (stump-to-stump line)" as the current iteration is underscored by the lack of success enjoyed by South Africa's spin pair.
They had sent down a collective total of 45 overs before Maharaj finally removed Smith to claim his sole wicket of the tour to date.
And even then it came as the result of batter error – a low half-volley chipped obligingly back to the bowler – rather than any overt act of guile or spin-craft.
Prior to that moment against the run of play, the closest either tweaker had come to claiming a breakthrough was Harmer's first over after lunch yesterday, when Khawaja (on 25) aimed a reverse sweep that brought a successful lbw shout.
But that was quickly overturned on review because the ball had brushed the batter's glove.
That stroke, which Khawaja had used with great dexterity and success on similarly spin-friendly surfaces in Pakistan and Sri Lanka last year, was immediately shelved he had surpassed 150 the following day.
Instead, he and Smith regularly played the South Africa spinners from deep in their respective creases and as late as possible, but then cashed in when the pair erred in length.
Khawaja had seen a couple of balls from Harmer spin perilously close to his outside edge on day one, and in today's opening session Smith went down the track to Maharaj in an attempt to flick him through mid-wicket and the resultant leading edge fell short of the deep-set fielder at mid-off.
But apart from those couple of close calls, the Australia pair looked entirely comfortable and increasingly dominant.
Smith took to Maharaj shortly after today's first drinks break, lifting him over mid-wicket for six then whipping him along the ground to the leg-side boundary from consecutive deliveries.
And when Harmer took the second new ball at just four overs old immediately after lunch, the former Australia skipper welcomed him back to the bowling crease by effortlessly drop-kicking him into the crowd at deep extra cover.
"He's just really comfortable the way he's playing," Smith said of Khawaja, with whom he forged a record third-wicket partnership at the SCG (209) and who is expected to resume tomorrow morning unbeaten on 195.
"He's got scoring options all around the ground.
"If you set a certain field he can play a certain way to get a boundary and force you to put someone there, and then play another way.
"He's just playing the game really well, and he's obviously got the horizontal bat shots against spin that are really effective.
"He hasn't played the reverse sweep as much as I would have thought he would today, but he probably didn't need to because of the lack of spin out there."
Khawaja's confidence against spin is reflective of the fearless approach Australia are expected to take to India where they have historically struggled against the turning ball.
But it also exemplifies how a weakness can be eradicated to the point it becomes a strength, given the left-hander lost his place in Australia's Test team during the disastrous 2016 tour to Sri Lanka where he was bamboozled by the left-arm spin of Rangana Herath and returned scores of 26, 18, 11 and 0.
Reinstated for the ensuing home summer series against the Proteas, Khawaja thrived against their pace attack but recorded another duck (lbw to left-arm wrist spinner Tabrais Shamsi) before Maharaj took his wicket three times in four Tests in South Africa in 2018.
"He's obviously gone back and worked really hard," Maharaj said of Khawaja today.
"When I did play him here in 2016, and then again in South Africa in 2018, you can see now he plays all around the wicket and he trusts his defence really well and he knows his scoring opportunities.
"He's got really good hands, he's worked really hard and he's a different player than he was four years ago against spin."
Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v South Africa
First Test: Australia won by six wickets
Second Test: Australia won by an innings and 182 runs
Jan 4-8: Third Test, SCG, 10.30am AEDT
Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Lance Morris, Nathan Lyon, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, David Warner
South Africa squad: Dean Elgar (c), Temba Bavuma, Gerald Coetzee, Theunis de Bruyn, Sarel Eree, Simon Harmer, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Heinrich Klaasen, Lungi Ngidi, Anrich Nortje, Kagiso Rabada, Rassie van der Dussen, Kyle Verreynne, Lizaad Williams, Khaya Zondo
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