cconsidering that Steve Smith was once observed changing gloves after facing eight balls, it’s no surprise to see him throw a glove. The surprise is that he is doing this in 20-over cricket, the format in which his batting has historically made the most modest impression.
It is an inconsistency of the Australian season that Smith has the best hand in the Big Bash League and it is too late to qualify him for an impending World Cup with the squad selected weeks ago. Smith wanted to be there, but his biggest worry isn’t the 2026 T20 World Cup. It’s the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.
Another 65 from 43 balls on Friday sent his Sydney Sixers to the Big Bash final, an innings punctuated by side launches and carves behind point. It was his fifth short-form knock after the Ashes: fresh from a Test century at the SCG, he started his T20 tournament with an unbeaten 19 in a washout, and then with a freight-training 100 off 41 in the city derby. Next came 54 against Brisbane and while 37 in Perth didn’t jump off the page, it was in a Sixers collapse as the pace jumped off a punchy wicket. Smith was the only player who looked comfortable and by the time he became the sixth wicket to fall, his score was half that of the team.
Those five hits have made 275 runs out of 68, with the chance to shoot for a trophy if he can beat Perth in the Scorchers’ den. It’s a nice moment, but should it mean anything more? The Australian cricket public loves knee-jerk reactions and as far back as Smith’s century, many took the position that the selectors had made the wrong decision for the World Cup.
That is not really clear from the facts. Big Bash runs at the SCG are not World Cup runs in Delhi. Beating Ryan Hadley and Wes Agar against Sydney Thunder is not the same as taking out Jasprit Bumrah and Kuldeep Yadav against India.
When Smith was dropped from the T20 squad almost two years ago, the call-up made sense. The shortest format was never his best: his first appearance in Australia came in that team as a bit player in 2010, but he had dominated only briefly around 2016, at the height of his Test powers. His record remains in the middle of the T20 pack. Smith for 20 overs seemed a waste. As he reached for the rope, his skill level was lowered by a lottery format.
In 2024, he was in his mid-30s, his test results had declined and he looked like a player nearing the end. His status earned him another T20 opportunity, opening the batting at his request during a tour of New Zealand, but a few more low scores led Australia to pair Travis Head with David Warner and later Mitchell Marsh. The combinations worked.
That remains the case. There is no place at the top. In the middle order, Smith’s IPL strike rate of 128, or his international rate of 125, is up against the might of Glenn Maxwell, Marcus Stoinis and Cameron Green. Smith is a better cricketer than Tim David, yes, but can he hit that many sixes off ten balls?
And yet, and yet. Barring some twist, Smith won’t be at the World Cup, but that doesn’t mean he can’t be part of the T20 assignments to follow. What looked like a fade-out in 2024 has been reversed, with Smith achieving five hundreds in his past twelve Tests with a rejuvenated target. Can that get back into his white ball cricket, as he was at his best before? Does his rush of runs reflect that or is it just abnormal luck?
Whatever the limitations of the Big Bash, Smith will be pursuing more domestic opportunities, which have already been linked to the American Major League, the English Hundred and the new European competition proposed for September. He has withdrawn from one-day internationals to hone the shortest format. He does gym routines to build six-punch strength. There’s still a sense that this is beneath him, but even Salvador Dalí did Alka-Seltzer commercials.
Smith’s motivation goes beyond fun and profit. It is that dream of winning an Olympic medal, of participating in an aspect of sporting life that has never been part of him. If that were to happen, the limitations of the format would be lost in a metallic glow. The dream is far away: for another two and a half years not only to maintain the standard, but also to raise it enough to regain a place.
Most hitters in their late 30s find that the end comes quickly. But if Australia’s unique modern great is still around and still scoring, which selectors would dare leave him off the trip?
Smith has dozens of pairs of gloves in his kit; during long innings we see their lines lined up along the border to dry in the sun. If he scores again on Sunday by lifting the Sixers to a title on the toughest road trip in the business, it will be a final gauntlet in this summer’s series, placed neatly with the others to end the line.
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