Entered the international cricket arena as a young leg-spinner who could bat a bit, faced a lot of criticism for his selection in his early days, but is now regarded as one of the greatest Test cricketers of all time. This is Steven Smith’s story and it is nothing short of an inspiration. Smith, who has led Australia in all three formats, has been instrumental in retaining the tag of ‘mighty Australians’.
Born on 2 June 1989 in Kogara, Sydney to an Australian father and an English mother, Smith began his journey as a fast bowler until the age of 14 or 15, before switching to spin. He was a member of the Australian team in the 2008 U-19 Cricket World Cup, where he scored 114 runs and took seven wickets in four matches.
Smith made his first-class debut for New South Wales in 2008 and made his international debut in February 2010 in a T20 match against Pakistan in Melbourne. In the same month, he played his maiden ODI game against the West Indies. In July of the same year, Smith made his Test debut against Pakistan at Lord’s and was selected mainly for his bowling.
From bowler to all-rounder to world-class batter – an incredible journey of Steve Smith
It was during the 2013 Ashes series that Smith slowly began to establish himself as a batter. He smashed his maiden century during the fifth match of the series and made everyone raise their eyebrows. He continued his exploits in the following years and the year 2015, he saw himself ranked number one in Tests, which lasted for a long period.
From bowler to spin all-rounder to world-class batter – Steve Smith’s journey has been quite unbelievable. One of the ‘Fab Four’, Smith has played 109 Tests to date and scored 9685 runs including 32 centuries, four double centuries and 41 fifties. He also has 19 wickets to his credit in this format.
Smith has donned the yellow jersey in 158 ODIs and 67 T20Is, scoring 5446 and 1094 runs, respectively. He has 12 centuries and 33 half-centuries in the 50-over format. Notably, Smith was a member of the Australian teams that won the 2015 and 2023 ODI World Cup, the 2021 T20 World Cup, and the 2023 World Test Championship (WTC) final. Unfortunately, Smith did not find a place in Australia’s squad for the upcoming 2024 T20 World Cup.
The ball-tampering scandal of 2018, which saw Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft banned for a year, put a small blemish on his illustrious career. But Smith made his comeback in remarkable style and kept winning hearts.