SCG Test, Australia v India – Day Three: A Retraction

I, Joseph Dylan Moore would like to retract the following statements, made in the summer of 2012:

‘Steven Smith can’t bat and can’t bowl. The man is a specialist fieldsman. Worst player to have played Test cricket for Australia’.

Coming from a man whose finest moment in the whites came as a ten-year-old captaining the Woy Woy Public School 1st XI, I am unsure this criticism would have had an irrefutable affect on the progression of Smith’s cricket. More likely, it was indeed a classic case of the armchair critic getting it wrong. Badly wrong. Guilty, your honour.

This morning at the iconic Sydney Cricket Ground, Steven Smith, the current Australian Test Captain, was named the 2014 Alan McGillvray Medallist as the best performed Australian Test cricketer for 2014. This award is well deserved. In what is now already a remarkable career, the rise and rise of the kid from the Shire has captured the hearts and minds of many across the country. Steven Smith most certainly CAN bat.  Steven Smith is in fact, one of the finest cricketers in the world.

Today, the twenty-five-year-old wunderkind will lead his country into battle for the third day of his third test as skipper. The Australians are in a dominant position and the only blemish on the captain’s summer comes when he inadvertently gets tangled up with the spider cam, dropping a catch off Rahul. The necessity for gimmicks has cost our national team a wicket! An investigation simply must ensue.

The young Rahul compiles an impressive century in only his second Test match. An innings of this nature did not appear probable after his debut, however as Eddie Cowan said about him on the radio, ‘I am loathe to judge a batsman on two innings’. Wise words. A ton in which patience and technique were plentiful will provide the young Bangalorean with a firm footing atop the Indian batting order for a long time. His captain, the sometimes argumentative, but always impressive Kohli compiled his third century in his debut match as full-time leader as the tourists looked established and comfortable in the middle of the famous ground.

There would be a twist in the tale however, late in what seemed a lengthy day in the field, as Smith turned to Watson. While much maligned for his batting, and rightfully so, S.R. Watson is often called upon as the Aussies are striving to break a partnership with the ball. And today, he did just that. After trapping Rahane close enough to adjacent, he then had the returning Raina caught behind off the very next ball. The match had turned after a day of thankless toil in the searing heat. And this is why cricket is played over five days. For theatre, story lines, ebbs and flows, there is no better game. Tomorrow, the Australian captain, Mr. Steven Deveraux Smith will again lead his side onto the hallowed SCG turf and I will applaud. Applaud a fine cricketer leading an ever-improving team. And, I will applaud whilst serving myself a most substantial slice of humble pie.

 

 

 

About Joe Moore

Learned the art of the drop-punt from Derek Kickett as Jamie Lawson watched on. And thus, a Swan for life. @joedmoore1979

Comments

  1. Yvette Wroby says

    Hi Joe, hope the pie tasted fabulous. Great little read. Enjoyed reading your article. Well played.

    Yvette

  2. Thanks very much Yvette. Very happy to be wrong in this instance!

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