K's hommage to Steve Smith

[Pies4shaw]

^ Except any of the spuds that bat from 4 to 7 for NZ. How do you run a competitive cricket team when the last of the recognised batsmen comes in at 3?

Smith was Australia's leading run scorer in the 2015 ODI World Cup with 402 runs at an average of 67. In the final, the Official Start of the NZ Tail came in at number 3 and made 12 runs from 33 deliveries. Smith came in at number 3 for Australia and made 56*, carrying them to victory. In the semi-final, he made 105 from 93 balls against India and was named player of the match. In the quarter-final, he top-scored for Australia with 65, coming in in the third over. So, in the three big knock-out games of that World Cup, Smith made 226 runs at an average of 113. Some "passenger".

Not being required to bat because your team thrashes the opposition pointless doesn't make you a "passenger". It makes your team breathtakingly well-performed.

[Pies4shaw]

Here's a little footage from one of Smith's poorer efforts in the 2015 ODI World Cup:

https://www.icc-cricket.com/video/196987

[K]

^ I haven't clicked the link yet. Is that where he flat-track bullied minnows Sri Lanka in Perth, which obviously does not suit Sri Lanka at all?

What did he do in the SF or final? What has he ever done in a pressure situation?

Name one defining innings in any form of the game, where he single-handedly won the match, when Oz were headed for seemingly certain defeat. I can't.

I can easily name such innings for almost everyone else. Even mediocre batsmen. e.g. I remember Mark Greatbatch's 13-hour innings at the WACA to save the Test. Even non-batsmen e.g. Tim Paine in UAE early in his captaincy, Gilchrist in just his second Test, Jack Russell...

Smith is not just a flat-track bully. He is a down-hill skier. (Also a sociopath, but that's a different matter.)

[K]

What are the odds this will be cancelled?

Smith fanboys should hope it is.

Smith dodged a bullet when the S. Africa series was cancelled. Rabada and Maharaj would have destroyed his defective technique, just like they did the last time.

Smith is Yasir Shah's bunny. But Yasir Shah may not be in Pakistan's best XI any more. He was on the fringe in their last Test series. How old is he? Dunno if the leggie Khan who destroyed Oz (including Smith of course) in the T20 WC SF is in their Test team.

By the end of Nov '19, Yasir had taken Smith's wicket 7 times in only 10 encounters. Did he add to that after that? I guess there was only one more Test after...

[K]

...
They're lucky they batted first, of course. Australia would have made at least 220 on that track, if they'd had to open the throttle - and probably many more, if Finch had got going.

...
Not being required to bat because your team thrashes the opposition pointless doesn't make you a "passenger". It makes your team breathtakingly well-performed.

This is crazy talk. Your cognitive dissonance is obviously out of control.


The one and only time Oz batted first, they were smashed by England. Of course they made things hard in that game by leaving out the wrong guy (Marsh) and leaving in the wrong guy (Smith). Woakes and Jordan totally destroyed Smith's defective technique... But the other batters weren't any good either. Then the Oz bowlers were belted all over the park. They can't handle the dew either.

The silver lining of that debacle is that they realized they needed Marsh at 3, and that they needed to hide Smith. (Better would've been to drop him and include some average but better batter in his place in the squad. Marny would have done.)


"Breathtakingly well-performed"?? Crazy talk. If you're talking about e.g. Zampa, okay... Not Oz. Finch admitted how lucky they were with him winning 6 out of 7 tosses. He admitted he tried to play down the importance of chasing. Good on Finch...

Smith did bat against England and Pakistan. Have you forgotten already how his defective technique was destroyed by both teams?

[Pies4shaw]

^ I haven't clicked the link yet. Is that where he flat-track bullied minnows Sri Lanka in Perth, which obviously does not suit Sri Lanka at all?

What did he do in the SF or final? What has he ever done in a pressure situation?

Name one defining innings in any form of the game, where he single-handedly won the match, when Oz were headed for seemingly certain defeat. I can't.

I can easily name such innings for almost everyone else. Even mediocre batsmen. e.g. I remember Mark Greatbatch's 13-hour innings at the WACA to save the Test. Even non-batsmen e.g. Tim Paine in UAE early in his captaincy, Gilchrist in just his second Test, Jack Russell...

Smith is not just a flat-track bully. He is a down-hill skier. (Also a sociopath, but that's a different matter.)

Are you simple or did you just not read the preceding post?

You said:

Smith was a passenger in this WC, just like in the 2015 ODI WC.

That was baseless and pathetic, of course. I responded as follows:

^ Except any of the spuds that bat from 4 to 7 for NZ. How do you run a competitive cricket team when the last of the recognised batsmen comes in at 3?

Smith was Australia's leading run scorer in the 2015 ODI World Cup with 402 runs at an average of 67. In the final, the Official Start of the NZ Tail came in at number 3 and made 12 runs from 33 deliveries. Smith came in at number 3 for Australia and made 56*, carrying them to victory. In the semi-final, he made 105 from 93 balls against India and was named player of the match. In the quarter-final, he top-scored for Australia with 65, coming in in the third over. So, in the three big knock-out games of that World Cup, Smith made 226 runs at an average of 113. Some "passenger".

Not being required to bat because your team thrashes the opposition pointless doesn't make you a "passenger". It makes your team breathtakingly well-performed.

Deal with it - he won the 2015 ODI World Cup for Australia and was Australia's key player in every innings that mattered. Your post was dumb - the least you could do is apologise and withdraw your hopelessly incorrect comments.

[Pies4shaw]

Do you have any intelligent contribution to make or do you just intend to troll Smith in every thread?

[K]

...
Deal with it - he won the 2015 ODI World Cup for Australia and was Australia's key player in every innings that mattered. Your post was dumb - the least you could do is apologise and withdraw your hopelessly incorrect comments.

This is unhinged. "He won the 2015 ODI WC for Oz"?? Do you really believe that? Insanity. He was a passenger. Your posts are totally unhinged. The Oz bowlers won the ''15 WC final for Oz. (The best batter in that tournament for Oz was probably Maxwell.) The target was so small, it didn't matter who batted where or what they scored for Oz. Any sane person will know that.

[K]

...
Are you simple or did you just not read the preceding post?

Do you actually have any awareness that you just resort to personal abuse whenever someone posts facts you don't like?

Maybe you need to work on dealing with your cognitive dissonance better.

Will you admit that England and Pakistan both destroyed Smith's defective technique in this T20 World Cup (and he did nothing else in the last 5 games IIRC)?

[K]

You need to work on dealing with your cognitive dissonance.

How can it be "trolling" when it's just stating facts? You just make silly claims of trolling when anyone posts things you don't like. Many experienced cricket journos post about this stuff (and recently about Smith's atrocious T20 form). Are ya really gonna claim all those experienced cricket journos like Knox, Conn and co. are "trolling" in their newspaper columns??

Do you deny that Smith is Yasir Shah's bunny?

It's obviously relevant to any Pakistan v. Oz series. But don't worry... As I said, Yasir may not be in Pakistan's Test team. He may now be too old...

[Pies4shaw]

It wasn't "abuse". I was asking a genuine question. It would be startling to any sane people who might wander in here from time to time to see you doubling down with nonsense about Smith being a "passenger" in the 2015 ODI World Cup. The position remains that Smith was Australia's leading run scorer in the 2015 ODI World Cup with 402 runs at an average of 67. In the final (against New Zealand), the Official Start of the NZ Tail came in at number 3 and made 12 runs from 33 deliveries. Smith came in at number 3 for Australia and made 56*, carrying them to victory. In the semi-final, he made 105 from 93 balls against India and was named player of the match. In the quarter-final, he top-scored for Australia against Pakistan with 65, coming in in the third over. So, in the three big knock-out games of that World Cup, Smith made 226 runs at an average of 113. Some "passenger".

In those same three knock-out games, Maxwell made 67 runs.

Just stop the stupid trolling.

[Skids]

I like Smith

[Pies4shaw]

A small contribution from the annals:

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/blog/ ... nd-hundred

Well, what did you see my blue eyed son? And what did you see, my darling young one? I saw a man batting without a chance for 149 overs. I saw Joe Denly bowling in mid-afternoon. I saw a thousand pad-roll fiddles and five hundred box-flicks. I saw a game and a series and a career defined.

And yes, like everyone else I saw quite a lot of Steve Smith. The fourth day of this first Ashes Test may have ended with England’s openers battling for survival, set an impossible 398 to win and a day to play out for a draw. But once again the chorus, the melody, the rhythm of the occasion belonged to the greatest Test batsman of the age.

From early morning to mid‑afternoon Smith reeled off his second mind-bendingly fine hundred of this match and his 25th in his past 54 Tests. This is a man operating at a pitch that no longer requires a nod to the records of the noble dead, use of the phrase “not since” or sepia references to childhoods hitting a golf ball against a water tank with a stump. Right now Smith is simply in a space all of his own.

Throughout this Test a weather‑beaten busker has been stationed outside Edgbaston, running through a repertoire of Bob Dylan standards as the crowds depart. At the end of day two he warned that the times were a-changing. As the skies opened at the end of day three he’d been absent from his post, but the message was still clear. Smith was on 46 at the close and not just playing nicely but wreathed in a peculiar sense of destiny. This match was already edging one way. And, for England, a hard rain was going to fall.

So it came to pass on the fourth day as Smith batted in a way nobody has ever really batted before, en route to a chanceless 142 off 207 balls.

[K]

I like Smith

Well, Skids, we should "like" whoever we can monetize.

But I haven't worked out how to bet on Smith's failures. The problem is: we don't know when there will be something in the pitch for the bowlers. Any movement of the ball in Oz is very rare. If we knew beforehand, then we could try to bet on Smith's defective technique being exposed.

And that's another problem. What sort of bets are offered related to Smith's flat-track bullying?

e.g. I correctly predicted years ago that if Smith ever had to face Cummins in a real game, Cummins would destroy Smith's defective technique.

But I didn't know the chance would come up in the IPL. Even if I did, what bets were available?? Maybe the bookies offered odds that Cummins would take Smith's wicket. But how would we know Smith would actually face any balls from Cummins? How would we know that the bowler at the other end wouldn't get him out?

Those are the barriers to making easy money.

...
'Losing the plot': Pat Cummins continues Steve Smith's misery in IPL

2 Nov. 2020

https://au.sports.yahoo.com/ipl-2020-pa ... 14174.html



Brad Hogg:

"Pat Cummins ... made Steve Smith look like a lower-order batsman."

"He had his footwork all over the shop. He was beating him on the outside edge and inside edge."

"Pat Cummins was way too good, way too quick, accurate and Steve Smith didn't have the answers."
...

[Pies4shaw]

https://wisden.com/stories/decade-in-re ... teve-smith

He began it as a leg-spinner who gave it a slog. He ends it as the best since Bradman.