Steven Smith has graduated from being a leg-spinner who could bat to a reliable middle-order batsman across all three formats. The 25-year-old’s consistent performances were one of the few positives for the Australians when they were losing series in India and England in 2013. And with the team turning a new leaf in 2014, Smith is looking to contribute more to his team’s success.
When he made his Test debut against Pakistan at Lord’s in 2010, he was picked mainly as a leg-spinner. But his batting came to the fore in the subsequent years and with the New South Wales player taking on Pakistan once again, in the challenging conditions in the UAE, he is keen to brush up his bowling and contribute with the ball in the spin-friendly environment here.
“I have changed a lot as a player since then (Test debut in 2010). I played those two Tests (against Pakistan) as a spinner so a lot has changed,” Smith said yesterday.
“I feel I wasn’t ready to play at that period of time and now it is more about batting for me and that is moving in the right direction. I have slowly brought spin bowling back into my game. The ball is coming out well in the nets. Hopefully, I can get some game time and keep improving.”
With the Aussies looking to maximise their spin resources, Smith knows his leg-spinners will be in demand.
“Hopefully I will be a batting all-rounder. It’s good to have that string to my bow. I really enjoy being in the game as much as possible. It’s still a fair bit of work to do. You have to work very hard as a leg-spinner, it’s possibly the hardest form of bowling in the game.
“Hopefully I can get more consistency,” he said.
The presence of Sri Lankan spin legend Muttiah Muralitharan, who has been hired by Cricket Australia as a coaching consultant for the UAE series, is another big plus.
“With Murali around, it’s good for us with batting and bowling. He has played a lot of cricket in these conditions.”