Steve Smith: The Unorthodox Technique That Produces a 60+ Test Average

The Most Unusual Elite Technique

Steven Peter Devereux Smith (born 1989, Kogarah, New South Wales) has the most heterodox batting technique of any batter in the top 10 of all time. He falls away from the line of the ball at delivery, his feet are not always in technically approved positions, and his head moves across the line in a way that coaching manuals would mark incorrect. Yet he averages over 60 in Tests — a figure only Bradman (99.94) and Voges (61.87) exceed among batters with 40+ Test innings. The technique is extraordinary because it works completely for him and fails entirely when imitated.

The Trigger Movement: The Key to Understanding Smith

Smith's trigger movement — the pre-delivery adjustment he makes as the bowler runs in — takes him across and outside his off stump. This is counter-intuitive: conventional advice places the trigger movement toward the off stump to cover the inswinger. Smith moves to leg. The result: he opens up the off side for hitting, but more importantly, he relocates his body to a position where deliveries that would hit off stump for other batters are now hitting middle, which he plays comfortably. He has essentially redesigned the geometry of where 'dismissal-ball' is for him personally.

The 2019 Ashes: 774 Runs

Steve Smith's 2019 Ashes series was one of the great individual batting performances in cricket history. He returned from a 12-month ban (for the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in South Africa) and scored 774 runs in 4 Tests (injury prevented his fifth) at an average of 110.57. His two centuries in the Headingley Test (scored around Ben Stokes' 135* in the fourth innings) showed his adaptability; his century at Old Trafford saved the series for Australia. England's bowlers tried everything — bouncers, off stump lines, wide-of-off lines — and could not find a consistent method of dismissal.

Legside and the Lbw Question

Smith's movement to leg creates one apparent vulnerability: the straight ball from a right-arm bowler that would be adjudged lbw because he has moved across and the ball hits him in front of the stumps. In practice, he is only dismissed lbw slightly more often than average — his technique of falling away allows him to get his bat to more 'lbw' balls than expected, and his reading of straight balls is exceptional. His one consistent technical weakness is the delivery that angles back into him at extreme pace from around the wicket — as Jofra Archer exposed briefly in 2019.

The Ball-Tampering Saga

In March 2018, Smith was found to have approved a plan (carried out by Cameron Bancroft) to use sandpaper on the ball during the Cape Town Test against South Africa to produce reverse swing. Smith admitted knowledge and was suspended from international cricket for 12 months. He returned to find his technique and determination undiminished. The episode remains a stain on his record and on Australian cricket; Smith's subsequent performances are viewed by some as redemption and by others as irrelevant to the original misconduct.

Career Numbers

Tests: 110+ | Runs: 9,600+ | Average: 59.00+ | Centuries: 32+. ODIs: 130+ | Runs: 4,600+ | Average: 43.00+. Note: career is ongoing.