Steve Smith, Richie Benaud and Defining Moments
This piece was originally published at The Big Tip website on January 18.
Steve Smith's Test cricket career is at a set of crossroads. Not in the sense that he may necessarily be dropped soon – his youth, enthusiasm, potential and raw talent should see him given plentiful opportunities by the selectors to prove that he is up to the challenge of the longer form of the game. Rather, he is at the crossroads in the sense that decisions he makes in the near future could have a substantial impact on his Test career and his influence on Australian Test cricket. As driving range professional Roy McAvoy (a character played by Kevin Costner in the 1990s golf-based movie "Tin Cup") would say, when a defining moment comes along, you define the moment, or the moment defines you. Let's analyse the two potential paths Smith could take with respect to a significant career decision and where each option may lead him and the team.
The first option for Smith is continue down the Test career path that he has followed to date – to bat at number six and be considered as a specialist batsman who can bowl some handy overs of spin. After five Tests, Smith has scored 259 runs at an average of 28.77 and taken 3 wickets at an average of 73.33. Everything sounds like a young batsman still finding his feet as a Test number six so far. But there are two potential pitfalls for Smith in continuing down this path:
(1) Number six Test batsmen who average less than 40 with the bat may last for a couple of years but will not survive in the long term, even if they do contribute some useful overs with the ball (see North, Marcus); and
(2) There are already whispers around town that should a viable alternative opening partnership present itself, Shane Watson will likely drop down the batting order to number six himself. While it is possible that the Australian middle order could accommodate both Watson and Smith, betting your last dollar on such an outcome is not advised.
The second option is more intriguing at this stage, perhaps because it hasn't received much in the way of discussion and thus the 'great unknown' factor adds to its mystery:
What if Steve Smith were to announce to selectors and the public at large that he was going to spend the entire off-season (post-World Cup and IPL) working with the likes of Terry Jenner, Shane Warne, Kerry O'Keefe, Richie Benaud and Stuart MacGill almost solely on his bowling in order to redefine himself as Australia's premier spin bowler and batting at number eight?
The current state of Australian cricket suggests that a front line spin bowler is far more desperately needed than a number six batsman who can bowl some handy overs of spin, meaning that such a transition is likely to increase Smith's value to the side. Record-breaking bowlers who bend their arm by 14.9997 degrees at the point of delivery aside, history has shown that the best leg-spinners have greater success at Test level than the best of their off-spinner counterparts, so Smith would have the inside track against the likes of Hauritz, Doherty, O'Keefe and Beer (a list that in itself highlights the desperation for a quality spinner to arrive on the scene). If he can develop his skills as a leg-spin bowler, his batting talents could decline a fraction and no-one would bat an eyelid, because he would have become indispensable to the team and given himself a great shot at playing 100 Test matches.
Let's suppose for a moment that he plays 100 further Tests and ends up with the following statistics: 105 Tests, around 4,000 runs at an average of 30 (batting at number eight) with five centuries, and 340 wickets (or around 3.25 wickets per Test match) at a cost of 34 runs per wicket. It's a projected statistical by-line that is at least conceivable for a young guy with so much talent, right? If those summary stats seem familiar to you, go to the top of the class – before their second Test match against Pakistan, those were the career Test statistics of Daniel Vettori. How long would it take Vettori become entrenched as our number one spinner if he somehow became eligible to play for Australia – more or less than five seconds?
But the best potential comparison for how Steve Smith's Test career could potentially (very important to distinguish 'could potentially' and 'would' here) play out is not Vettori. Rather, it's a former spinner/ hard-hitting batsman from New South Wales who much like Smith, also batted in the top six for his state on many occasions, and indeed did so from time to time for Australia – Richie Benaud.
Like Smith, Benaud made his Test debut at age 21. And like Smith, Benaud did not make an immediate impact with the ball – after 15 Tests, he had scored 428 runs at an average of 17.12 and taken just 28 wickets (or less than two wickets per Test) at an average of 37.10. But check out how his 63-Test career progressed as he continued to refine his skill set and improve his mastery of one of the most difficult crafts in cricket:
15 Tests – 428 runs at 17.12 with 0 centuries, 28 wickets at 37.10 with zero 5-wicket hauls.
25 Tests – 821 runs at 21.05 with 1 century, 58 wickets at 31.94 with one 5-wicket haul.
40 Tests – 1,413 runs at 25.23 with 3 centuries, 152 wickets at 24.55 with ten 5-wicket hauls.
50 Tests – 1,698 runs at 23.91 with 3 centuries, 204 wickets at 24.89 with thirteen 5-wicket hauls.
63 Tests – 2,201 runs at 24.45 with 3 centuries, 248 wickets at 27.03 with sixteen 5-wicket hauls.
If you consider the period from Benaud’s 26th Test match through to his 50th Test match in isolation, he made 877 runs at 27.41 with 2 centuries and took 146 wickets at 22.09 with twelve 5-wicket hauls (or a 5-wicket haul in almost every second Test). It’s pretty impressive stuff.
Could Benaud have been an effective Test number six and handy part-time bowler had he allocated his time between batting and bowling differently? It’s possible. But as he became the leading Test wicket-taker for Australia, holding that title until he was eventually passed by Dennis Lillee, I'll go out on a limb and suggest that things turned out for the best.
The linkage to Benaud also ties quite neatly in with the fact that having recently read his autobiography Over But Not Out: My Life So Far, one point that stuck with was where he mentioned that in discussing leg-spin bowling with a young Shane Warne in the early 1990s, he imparted the advice that Warne should first a foremost work on a 'stock' ball (the hard-spun leg break) that can be landed accurately at will and therefore act as both an attacking and defensive weapon. He also advised Warne that such an accurate delivery that was at Warne's beck and call would take four years to perfect (although he went on to say that Warne was so good that he perfected it in two!). Let's suppose that Smith decides this winter, around his 22nd birthday, that he wants to be Australia's premier spinner for the next ten years. He would be 26 years old when his four year leg spin 'apprenticeship' was notionally completed, with plenty of years ahead for his efforts to bear fruit, both for him and the Australian team. But the length of time associated with such development means that the defining moment for Smith is rapidly approaching – he can set the wheels in motion for what could (again, it's important to note the 'could') develop into a Benaud-like career/ contribution to the Australian Test team over the next decade, or he can roll the dice and hope that his Test batting improves with experience and he can pick up a handy wicket from time to time as well. I have my fingers crossed for Steve Smith defining the moment (read: 2011) and setting sail for a 'Richie Benaud Mk II' style role in the Australian team.
