Smith prospers through patience

When Steven Smith was out for 92 in Mohali a little over 18 months ago, it felt a little like he had missed the last bus home.

Smith was only playing as a result of the suspension of four players in the homework episode, and was only on the tour because he was considered a decent player of spin. Sure he played well at the PCA Stadium, but doubts about his ability on other surfaces lingered afterwards, enough to have him omitted from the initial 16-man Ashes squad later that year. Who knew when Smith's next chance to make a Test hundred would come?

In his last selection meeting before being sacked by Pat Howard and James Sutherland, the coach Mickey Arthur met with Rod Marsh and John Inverarity in Bristol to approve Smith's inclusion in that Ashes squad, after he performed well for Australia A on the tour that coincided with the Champions Trophy. It was a momentous decision. Since then Smith has blossomed into a batsman making runs in all circumstances and all conditions.

Take this list of venues for his hundreds: The Oval, the WACA Ground, the SCG, Centurion Park, and Adelaide Oval. He also passed 90 in both Mohali and Abu Dhabi, and notched 84 at Newlands. Not since Allan Border has an Australian batsman as young as Smith shown the ability to make runs in such a vast variety of climes. Not since Ian Chappell has one done so with such entertaining flair.

The Adelaide hundred now stands as Smith's highest but that is not to say it was his finest; India's bowling was too listless and the pitch too flat. His efforts in Perth and Centurion, on the surfaces the selectors had once sworn off choosing him for, were more superior efforts on a level of technical proficiency. But finding the strength of mind to score a century in the aftermath of Phillip Hughes' death was an achievement of an entirely different kind.

To do so required concentration of will and the ability to ride with the many conflicting emotions running through the mind. Smith dealt with these admirably, even as others fell around him to the second new ball on the first evening. He also had to contend with the distress of watching his captain Michael Clarke wrestle with his chronic back condition, spending time in hospital and receiving painkilling injections simply to be able to play in the admirable but limited fashion that characterised his own hundred.

Clarke's usually balanced technique was pared back by necessity, and the contrast with Smith's expansive range of shots and gears was dramatic. After Smith reached three figures, offering a touching acknowledgement of Hughes by raising his bat at the apex of the 408 painted onto the Adelaide outfield, he demonstrated his brilliant eye and fast hands by clattering boundaries to rush the innings along.

"I had a bit of time didn't I, I had that long break on 98 and I thought if I got the two more runs it would be nice to go over there to the 408 and stick my bat in the air and say thanks to Hughesy for being with me all the way out there," Smith said. "We're all good mates with Hughesy us three, so I was sort of hoping all three of us would get runs. It's nice to be in that position with 517 on the board in the first innings."

Smith was missed three times by India between 100 and 162, a period that also spanned a pair of rain delays. The abandon with which he played showed little regard for his own batting average. But its recent upward trend - currently at 44.65 and rising - has been the result of a growing ability to swear off his more outlandish strokes until he has crested three figures, or at the very least passed 50. A loose cut shot that ended his first innings against Pakistan in Dubai stood out as a rare recent lapse, but there was none in Adelaide.

"I think at the start of my career I probably wasn't quite as patient as I am now. I tried to play too many shots early on and that got me in trouble," Smith said. "I think that's the way I wanted to go about my business, to try and get my patience right, I know if I do that then I'll be able to make big runs and today's a good example of that - hopefully it continues."

The patience Smith shows has an obvious reward, for once he has posted a strong score and set a platform for the team, his vast array of strokes both orthodox and anything but can be given full vent - particularly when Australia are led by a captain/coach duo as proactive as Clarke and Darren Lehmann.

"We said we wanted to get to 500 so it was about putting the accelerator on and trying to get a few boundaries away, so it worked out well," Smith said. "It's always nice when you're batting after scoring a 100. It's probably the best time to bat. When the captain gives you a licence to try and get a few runs, you cans tart to invent a few shots. It's always a nice time to bat."

At the time Smith returned to the Test XI in Mohali, it was generally thought that if Clarke did not make a major score, the team would more than likely crumble. Since then Clarke's capacity for consistent hundreds has diminished, and each of his centuries since have taken on the air of a major event, at least partly because many wonder - largely for physical reasons - about when the next one might arrive.

Smith and David Warner have since taken up the slack, and in Adelaide they have played sweetly either side of Clarke to underline not only their love for Hughes, but also the gathering depth in Australia's batting.

"I don't think we ever thought that at that time," Smith said of the team's heavy reliance on Clarke. "It probably looked that way from the outside as Pup was getting a mountain of runs and everyone else probably wasn't contributing as much, but you have to try to be as positive as you can and we were happy with our form and knew we'd come good. The way Davey Warner's played in the last little bit has been unbelievable so it's nice to share the runs around."

This Test has already been emotional, but Smith has shown his ability to ensure he keeps his head. He did so again when asked whether or not this was his finest hundred, begging politely to differ in another sign that at 25 his best rolls out ahead of him. "I'm not sure if it's my best innings," he said. "I think my hundred at Centurion against South Africa in those conditions would probably be my best one so far in my book, but every hundred's nice and hopefully I've got a few more this summer."

For Smith, the buses now look like running all night.