After disgrace, Smith slips seamlessly back into Australian captaincy
Steve Smith says he always felt that
he had the support of the Australian public after slipping back into the
captaincy of the Test team this week, capping a remarkable career revival.
In March 2018, Smith was enemy
number one in the wake of a ball-tampering scandal that shook cricket.
It was a long road back -- a
two-year leadership ban and one-year playing suspension.
But the 32-year-old's redemption was
all but complete last month when he was named vice-captain to new skipper Pat
Cummins when Tim Paine quit over lewd text messages, even though not everyone
agreed with the decision.
By a quirk of fate, Smith was then
thrust back into the top job for the irst time in nearly four years for the
ongoing second Ashes Test against England at Adelaide when Cummins was ruled
out hours beforehand over a Covid scare.
"I woke up... I looked at my
phone and saw two missed calls from Patty and a message from JL (coach Justin
Langer) saying, 'Are you awake?'" Smith -- one of the world's premier
batsmen -- told cricket.com.au about how he learned he would again captain the
team.
"I wanted to lead the side in
Patty's absence and continue on what he started last week," Smith added,
referring to Australia's nine-wicket thrashing of England in the first Test.
"I'm looking forward to working
with Patty in the future and helping him in any way that I can grow as a
leader, and help the team have success."
So unprepared was Smith that he
didn't have his captain's blazer with him and had to borrow Cummins', which was
a size too big as he walked out for the toss on Thursday.
- 'Absolutely devastated' -
It was a far cry from 2018 when a
distraught Smith tearfully fronted a press conference admitting to a
"failure of leadership" after the "Sandpaper-gate" scandal
in South Africa that saw him sent home in disgrace.
"I'm sorry. I'm absolutely
devastated," he said at the time, weeping.
Cameron Bancroft had been caught by
television cameras trying to rough up the ball with sandpaper with Smith and
his deputy David Warner found to be involved. All three were sanctioned.
Cricket Australia chief Nick Hockley
said in the wake of Cummins being exposed to coronavirus that Smith had
"served his ban in full and by his own admission has grown a lot as a
person".
"The national selection panel
and the board, we felt he had demonstrated that he was absolutely fit to hold a
leadership position again," he added.
Captaincy appears to agree with
Smith.
After winning the toss in Adelaide's
day-night Test he chose to bat and saw his team pile on 473 for nine in their
first innings, contributing a fine 93 himself, before declaring late Friday to
give his bowlers at crack at a wilting England.
It proved to be a good move, with
both England openers removed in quick succession.
First-innings century-maker Marnus
Labuschagne, who got his break during the Lord's Ashes Test in 2019 as a
concussion substitute when Smith was felled by a Jofra Archer bouncer, said the
stand-in skipper had taken to the job effortlessly.
"His communication with the
team after play and before play in the morning, he's very clear," said
Labuschagne, who has made the number three slot his own, with Smith batting at
four.
"It's the first time I've been
captained by Steve and it's nice to see him in that leadership role."
Despite his past, Smith remains
broadly popular in Australia and he was given a standing ovation when he walked
out to bat.
"I always felt like I had the
support of people here in Australia and it's always special when you lead your
country," he said.