The other Steve Smith question - Who would you try and get him out ?

[Burgey]

There was an over Stokes bowled to Smith, just before lunch I think, where Stokes had Smith in trouble about playing to leg or to the off and in the end got an edge down to fine leg.

Is there a line whereby bowling full you might get that "corridor of uncertainty" or would Smith just adjust the amount he steps across the stumps. ?

I think there is, but it's a similar conundrum to what Australia faced with Pujara out here last summer - you just have to be orders of magnitude more patient than normal, and accept they will take longer than the average bloke to make a lapse in judgment. Like, if you're the skipper of the fielding side, you want to be telling your bowlers they will be binned if he works them to the leg side, even for singles. As SteveNZ says, part of Smith's MO is he suckers bowlers into thinking after an over or two "I'll sneak one onto the pads here and get an lbw", but he's trolling you. You have to be prepared not to bowl two overs outside off to him non-stop, but to do it for two hours. And if he's good enough to outlast you or take you for runs through cover, then you just dip your lid.

 

[morgieb]

It's even more of a problem with Smith than Pujara as Smith scores a fair bit more freely than him and therefore it's even harder to have the discipline to bowl a steady plan to him.

 

[stephen]

If people started bowling nothing but channel balls to Smith I'm pretty sure he'd eventually invent a perfectly safe way of smacking them all for 4. On the leg side. Blindfolded.

 

[stephen]

Watching Smith bat last night there were some shots he played which he had so much time to play that you wouldn't have been surprised if he'd managed to duck down to the shops and buy some milk before the ball got to him.

 

[Burgey]

It's even more of a problem with Smith than Pujara as Smith scores a fair bit more freely than him and therefore it's even harder to have the discipline to bowl a steady plan to him.

Yeah it is but it all comes back to patience and discipline. You can't bowl wicket to wicket as that's leg side to him. You can't bounce him because he's good off the back dog and selective when he plays the hook and pull. So your only option is channel, but it's about where the channel is to him, and imo it's wider than usual. So set up with a 7-2 field including, if needs be and depending on the state of the game, a sweeper at cover point and just bowl there non stop. It's ugly and it's limited, but what else will work when he's in form? You basically need the McGrath method but two stumps wider. Ok, he leaves plenty or whacks a few if you get it way wrong and get too wide, but its controllable and gives you a shot at waiting him out.

 

[stephen]

A good bumper can still do him I think. But your line needs to be more off stump than leg stump. With his trigger movement that makes for a really awkward ball to play.

 

[Gob]

 

[Burgey]

Jesus Christ.

Spikey, check this out ffs.

 

[Daemon]

How much of Smith’s mental toughness is because of bullying during his formative years?

 

[quincywagstaff]

In the last 5-6 years only looked vulnerabke against left-arm offies. It's like KP from a few years back except on an even heightened level.

 

[Dan]

Leg stump half volleys, obvs.

 

[GIMH]

In the last 5-6 years only looked vulnerabke against left-arm offies. It's like KP from a few years back except on an even heightened level.

Yep that’s Vaughan’s reasoning for bringing Leach into the side for the second Test

 

[stephen]

Normally I wouldn't advocate for picking a bowler to get a specific batsman but picking a guy to specifically get Smith is basically like picking someone to dismiss half of Australia.

 

[cnerd123]

plus Leach's record as an opener is superior to Roy's

 

[Gob]

Normally I wouldn't advocate for picking a bowler to get a specific batsman but picking a guy to specifically get Smith is basically like picking someone to dismiss half of Australia.

Remember picking Xavier Doherty to get KP out and KP going on to get a double.

Good times

 

[stephen]

Remember picking Xavier Doherty to get KP out and KP going on to get a double.

Good times

Yeah that was woeful. You don't pick a player who is significantly worse than another just because they happen to be the kind of player an opponent doesn't like.

 

[TheJediBrah]

tbf it's not like we had much better than Doherty at the time

 

[stephen]

tbf it's not like we had much better than Doherty at the time

I'm pretty sure he was keeping Lyon out of the side. Either that or it was Hauritz, who had impressed to that point.

 

[Starfighter]

I'm pretty sure he was keeping Lyon out of the side.

iirc Lyon had achieved very little in first class cricket at that point (and really still has in the shield). Over Hauritz was stupid though.

 

[TheJediBrah]

I'm pretty sure he was keeping Lyon out of the side. Either that or it was Hauritz, who had impressed to that point.

No Lyon wasn't on the radar. I don't know if he'd even played a Shield game yet. Lyon was picked for 2011 tour of Sri Lanka basically out of the T20 Bash. Was a pretty random selection.

You might be right about Hauritz. He hadn't been terrible but tye selectors were tired of his mediocrity.