There was a time, while Steve Smith was at the height of his batting prowess, when “best since Bradman” was used with confidence. The thing about that line is that even when the recipient has dominated for years, it gets applied too quickly, given the point of comparison is a career-lasting two decades. Lots of players reach the top for a time, no other has stayed as long. Smith was untouchable for six years before returning to the realm of the merely very good.
The combination of those phases, though, took him to a rare position on the third day of the fifth Test in Sydney. In the statistics of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith’s Ashes-heavy career there have been two peaks gradually drawing closer in the mist. Donald Bradman’s 5,028 runs against England is one that even Smith will never climb. Jack Hobbs’s 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he ascended on Tuesday.
For almost a century these have been the two leaders of the rivalry, their careers overlapping in the 1928-29 series when Bradman debuted and Hobbs bowed out. One of the greatest, Hobbs mastered batting in Australia, something so few from England have done. Five centuries at the MCG, two-thirds of his Ashes runs scored on foreign tours rather than on the familiar grounds of home. His record seemed unbreakable until Bradman shot beyond it.
So it is a feat of great significance that Smith is now the one sitting second behind Bradman for runs between the nations, as well as second for centuries, passing the 12 that he and Hobbs had shared before Smith’s 129 not out at the SCG. The same number of Tests, too, 41 apiece, though Smith has batted twice more than his predecessor a hundred years before.
It was his fifth home-ground Test hundred, his second in an Ashes match, though home comforts didn’t have him settled early. There were tranches where Smith was twitchy as a mad cat’s tail, defending for a while before trying some outlandish shot in a strange direction, fresh-airing the attempt or making half contact. Rubber-arming Jacob Bethell’s part-time spin over mid-off for two was one such example, shots where Smith seemed frustrated or bored and wanting to make something else happen.
Eventually, though, he settled into his work, occasionally rifling one through the covers in his trademark way, putting every sinew into the shot. The old Smith bubble, perhaps, as he built a partnership with every teammate who came his way. But the bubble kept popping, whether it was Smith seeming to roll an ankle taking a run, or slipping over multiple times while turning for a second or third.
Later he sent Bethell into the stands, and worked him for the three runs to raise the century, a heftier celebration than some. With that done he tried the forehand smash that he played way back in 2014 against India in Brisbane, and signalled wides for his own amusement when Matthew Potts sent one metres over his head. There were few quiet moments in the show.
The innings was a throwback because since his period of riches Smith’s Ashes returns have been relatively spare. He built his reputation between the end of the 2013 England tour and the same trip in 2019. That span saw 11 Ashes centuries in 32 innings, an even higher hit rate than Bradman’s. But lots of players have hot streaks, while Bradman’s doesn’t require trimming: he made a hundred in his second Test, a hundred in his second-last, and better than a hundred every second match in between.
After Smith’s streak, from the final Test of 2019 onwards, this was his 27th Ashes innings and only his second hundred. It closes out a deeply weird series with few opportunities for runs. Smith has been not out for a low score three times, thanks to the small run chases of Perth and Brisbane, and the collapse in Melbourne. He missed Adelaide entirely. That left him four first innings hits, which have included his Brisbane 62 and this Sydney ton.
The series underlines that Smith is not Australia’s most important batter, currently, that’s Travis Head. His 163 in Sydney set the base for Smith to build on. However unlikely it seems, the team’s most aggressive player is also its most consistent. Head’s proclivity to score from the jump plays a part: even in his early career when he didn’t make big scores, he always made a contribution. Once he started making hundreds, a few ducks joined the mix, but three centuries in an Ashes series is rare air.
Both will play a part in Australia’s busy stretch that starts later this year, with Test trips to South Africa, India, and England, as well as the 150th anniversary Test in Melbourne next year. For those selected, that will add the quirk to their records of a non-Ashes England Test. It’s the kind of high-profile environment that has previously suited Head just fine, and the runs will still count towards that overall tally for Smith to build his total just a little closer to the Don.
