Most peopleknow his story by now:the 24-year-old from the remote village of Baracara in Guyana who wasn’t even playing organised cricket a year ago but just dismantled the world champions in a Test.
It’s an incredible story,sure,but highlights the problems in unearthing the next generation of talent in the Caribbean. He was discovered by chance,not a well-organised pathway.
As we’ve been reminded countless times this summer,the riches of Twenty20 cricket have ravaged West Indies cricket,but the deeper problems are structural and cultural.
On the streets of St Lucia or Barbados or most of the islands,kids aren’t playing cricket but soccer or basketball. They wear English Premier League shirts or NBA singlets.
In the rush to evaluate the demise of other Test nations,almost mocking them at times,Australian commentators this summer have glossed over their own team’s batting deficiencies,laid bare in this match.
Mitchell Marsh on his way for 10 on Sunday.Credit:Getty
Cricket Australia is so flush with money and so well-organised,it doesn’t need to stumble across the next superstar. It’s got pathways up the wazoo,so to speak.
Still,its domestic competition isn’t strong enough to unearth an opening batsman to replace David Warner.
It’s too early to tell if Steve Smith is the answer,but his unbeaten 91 in the second innings suggests he probably is. It’s the first time since Warner in 2011 that an Australian opener has carried his bat.
Smith said he wanted to open because he wanted a new “challenge” – can you imagine if Warner had made such a declaration? – and on Sunday afternoon at the Gabba,he had one.
When Pat Cummins was dismissed,with Australia needing 41 runs with two wickets in hand,with umpires opting for another half hour of play,with Joseph limping to his mark before turning around and steaming in and delivering demonic throat balls at the tailenders,Smith certainly had a challenge on his hand.
After Kemar Roach had Smith clumsily trapped leg before wicket in the first innings,the calls went up for him to shuffle back down the order,although at whose expense was unclear.
On Fox Cricket,Mark Waugh and Michael Vaughan went to town on his technique,but in the second dig Smith looked like the Smith of old;all the fidgeting and shuffling had a purpose. He suddenly had all the time in the world again.
Chairman of selectors George Bailey saidSmith opening the batting is a long-term project – as it must be – but he and his panel have backed themselves into a corner. What if it doesn’t work against supposedly tougher opposition,like India next summer? Will Smith get dropped or moved back down the order at someone’s expense?
Nevertheless,Smith displayed in the second innings an attribute that few in the top order seem to have:adaptability to the situation. That used to be the key to Test cricket,not “entertainment” nor playing one’s “natural game”.
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Too often this summer,Australia’s batsmen have been dismissed because of a lack of patience,playing T20 shots to deliveries they should have let sail through to the wicketkeeper.
Mitchell Marsh has had a stellar 12 months but his dismissal in the first innings,when he miscued a pull shot,was symbolic of Australia’s reckless batting.
If Pakistan had held their catches in the three-match series,we might have been having different conversations about this Australian side.
Are we going to havea conversation about Marnus Labuschagne,a No.3 batsman who has scored one hundred since December 2022? Who averaged just 34 last year? His dismissals in this Test,playing lazy shots with little footwork,showed how far out of form he’s become.
Cummins’ side has done remarkably well in the last 11 months,shrugging off defeat in India to win the World Test Championship,retain the Ashes and win the one-day World Cup.
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But let’s restrain ourselves from calling it one of our greatest teams just yet. They beat Pakistan,ranked sixth in the world in Tests even though they barely play them,and drew the series with the eighth-ranked Windies.
Don’t even mention Cummins’ side in the same breath as the Steve Waugh-led team that won 16 Tests in the row.
It’s still a work in progress and most of the work is required at the top of the order.