For a bloke from the bush in Bendemeer, finding solitude in Sydney can be a tricky feat, but Josh Hazlewood found an idyllic spot in the suburbs with a mate when first making his way as a talented tearaway quick.
As a teenager training with New South Wales, the Aussie fast bowler has fond memories of putting his big feet up at a house in Alfords Point that was home to a cricket mad young gun destined to become an all-time great of the sport.
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It is not far off two decades since Hazlewood and Steve Smith, whose parents Pete and Gillian owned a five bedroom in the Sutherland Shire suburb, debuted for the Blues in 2008.
The residence, which was just a few minutes from Casuarina Oval where Smith made his first century in the under-10s, had a pool and a grass strip flat enough for backyard cricket, a perfect place for a young batter with stars in his eyes.
And cricket was all the champion Australian batter, who used to shadow bat in the middle of the night when unable to sleep, wanted to chat about as the pair set their sights on breaking into the NSW team.
The topics of conversations might differ now, with Hazlewood saying their chats around a BBQ would touch on “golf and horse racing”, with the superstar No.4’s life in New York also on the agenda.
When based in his home away from home, Smith and his wife Dani revel in everything great about life in Manhattan, including bike rides through Central Park and jogs along the Hudson River.
There is an old batting cage he has used to keep his eye in but the Big Apple provides a sanctuary to put the bats away and has dimmed his obsessiveness with the sport.
As Smith said in a recent profile for cricket.com.au, New York provides him with an escape.
“If I’m back home and I get bored, I might just have the itch to go and hit some balls,” he said.
“But at the age I’m at now, I actually feel it helps to put my tools down and stimulate my mind in other ways.”
But little else has changed about Smith’s personality from when he was a cricket mad kid with big dreams growing up in Sydney’s south, according to his old boyhood house mate.
“I think he has been the same person the whole way through from when I used to stay at his house,” Hazlewood told foxsports.com.au
“I’d come down from the country and stay a few nights at … his parents’ house at that stage to train with the Blues. He hasn’t changed too much over the years.”
Steve Smith was pictured having a beer in a New York bar not long after the Sandpapergate scandal, but it was subsequently revealed he was waiting to meet Aussie actor Hugh Jackman.Source: Supplied
The skillset central to Smith’s excellence
Smith’s status as a Hall of Fame cricketer is indisputable leading into his return to South Africa, the land where it was once feared his remarkable career would be scorched for good.
There will be a significant focus on his role in Sandpapergate, the scandal in 2018 which cost him the Australian captaincy and a year of cricket, leading into the first Test in Durban beginning on Friday.
The veteran has recently stressed that he has blocked out much of what happened back in 2018 by design and while Proteas’ fans are certain to try to remind him of the saga, Smith has shown a propensity to respond to being challenged by dominating.
Poking the bear could backfire in a series between last year’s World Test Championship finalists if the 37-year-old can find his groove in a country he had previously enjoyed playing in, noting he felt “pretty relaxed” about the coming series.
“You take last time out – where I have blocked most of it from my memory, tried to forget most of it – the series before (in 2014) was actually one of my favourite series I’ve been involved in,” he said.
Steve Smith opens up on ‘Sandpaper’ Gate | 06:20
But with the 38-year-old again putting life after cricket on the agenda when saying recently he was no certainty to feature in next year’s Ashes series, reflections on his legacy have begun.
To get to where we are now, with the former Australian captain having made 37 centuries in 125 Tests and an average just shy of 54, it is worth revisiting the infancy of his career.
Australian great Greg Chappell, who considers him one of the finest cricketers the nation has produced, worked with the fledgling talent at the Centre of Excellence about the same time Hazlewood was crashing at Alfords Point with the Smiths.
The right-hander with cherubic cheeks had immense promise but the challenge at that stage was to make him a more rounded cricketer rather than a batsman with a particular strength playing to the leg side.
What Chappell admires most about Smith since then is his ability and desire to evolve.
“What he’s achieved is incredible,” Chappell said.
“He came through the Center of Excellence when I was the head coach up there, so I had lots of chats to him about batting, and I’ve talked to him since about batting. Steve has a very different approach to batting than anyone I’ve ever seen and if you don’t think like Steve, it’s hard to bat like Steve. It’s not something that I would think that you would coach someone else to do, but you wouldn’t stop him doing it.
“I remember when he came through the Center of Excellence, he was predominantly a leg side player, and we worked on improving his off side play. It was not to and was never going to diminish his leg side play, but just to make sure he had other options when he got to Test cricket, because they were going to be good enough to be able to restrict him. And, you know, I think he’s developed his off side play.
“He’s probably had three iterations as a batsman in my eyes, looking at him as a younger player, sort of middle-aged player and an older player. He’s reinvented himself a couple of times and each time … you got a better version of Steve Smith.”
Greg Chappell, then working as a national selector, chats with former Australian coach Darren Lehmann and Steve Smith prior to Day 1 of the Third Ashes Test match between Australia and England at the WACA in 2017.Source: AAP
He was always a batsman
The miraculous moustache of Merv Hughes always bristles when someone suggests that the Aussie selectors stumbled on Smith’s formidable batting talent back in 2010.
Just because Smith batted at No.8 on debut against Pakistan in a Test at Lord’s when taking three wickets with his leg-spin does not mean the Australian selection committee was blind to his ability when he was picked, Hughes said.
“He came in as a very young boy and I still remember people think he got picked as a leg spinner and I just think, ‘How would you bloody know?’” Hughes said.
“I was a bloody selector at the time, so I had a fair idea as to what he got picked for. He was performing in Shield cricket leading into his selection and since his selection what he’s been able to do and what he has achieved has been amazing.
“I haven’t really sat down with him since but I’d love to because I reckon he’s got a fantastic cricket brain and that showed when he was captaining Australia.”
Smith warned again | 01:41
Chappell points to his various reincarnations throughout his career as an example of his greatness.
What Hughes admires the most about Smith, who has 19 Test wickets at an average of 53, is his adaptability.
“Even as a young man, just the way he developed and got himself into positions was excellent, so to watch him progress through state cricket, to watch him play the Big Bash, and to watch him play cricket in all formats, he just truly adapts himself to the game that he is playing, and that’s a quality only the truly great players have,” Hughes said.
“Everyone has their own definition of a champion, but a champion to me is someone who can sum up the conditions you’re playing in, sum up the situation of the game, sum up the opposition and, most importantly, play accordingly. And Steve Smith has that ability.
“People say that great players play the same way all the time. No, they don’t. You see Steve Smith playing against England in England and his technique is (different) to when he plays India in India. Different conditions, different opposition, obviously different situations of the game, he’ll change his technique to suit and only the great players can do that.”
Destined to be Australian captains: Tim Paine and Steve Smith ahead of their debuts for Australia in a Test between Pakistan and Australia at Lords in 2010.Source: Getty Images
Is Smith a one-off? Or can (and should) others try to mimic the superstar?
Discarded Aussie opener Jake Weatherald has a close mate who can handle the bat on the domestic scene who has mirrored his game on the maestro.
The Northern Territorian will not reveal who it is but his somewhat derogatory nickname will surely give it away to anyone who has played alongside the mystery man.
“One of my mates who’s played a lot of first class cricket basically idolises him and does everything the same as him. He’s called ‘Temu Smith’,” Weatherald said.
“He has found some success doing it, but for me, I tried to do it in a game and just felt horrific. So it just shows how different you have to be to be good and he’s amazing.”
Is it advisable to borrow from his mannerisms? Or the loudness at the crease that so irritates rivals, as AB de Villiers confided recently on the Keepin’ It Cricket podcast while also confirming he has great admiration for the way the Aussie has played.
Absolutely, Weatherald said. But succeeding while doing it is another matter.
“He is one of those frustrating ones to watch, but he is a great problem solver,” Weatherald said in a chat at the SCG last month.
“You can tell by his technique that he problem solves the game better than anyone and that’s why he moves so differently and … sometimes looks awkward. But he does what is needed to make runs, which I think is pretty cool to do. It is something that I definitely wish I could do as well.
“I wouldn’t say (it is the) hardest (to copy) actually, because he’s got such a bizarre technique. He’s generally the one you can try to copy because he’s got such an extroverted way of moving, and it’s sort of progressive across the crease and stuff like that. So you can pick up on it quite quickly when people are trying to do it.”
Weatherald on THAT viral Ashes moment | 01:52
It will surprise no-one that Marnus Labuschagne has borrowed at least a little from Smith. There was a period where he was even louder bellowing “no run” than the superstar and was arguably even more exaggerated when leaving the ball.
The Queenslander is in the midst of a prolonged slump but was a prolific run-scorer in the first half of his career and said he always looked to Smith and the other members of the Big Four – Joe Root, Kane Williamson and Virat Kohli – for tips on how to succeed at Test level.
“I think the big misconception with Steve is (that he is) so different that no-one can do what he does,” Labuschagne said prior to departing for South Africa.
“I think it’s about working out, ‘Well, what does he do that makes him so good? And then what can you do as a player, especially as a player who’s probably got similar strengths?’
“It’s not like Travis Head, who is an off-side player, Alex Carey’s an off-side player, that they’re going to try and walk across their stumps and do that. That wouldn’t work.
“But for someone like me, who’s got similar strengths, I think you can certainly look at someone’s game and go, ‘Okay, well, that’s why that works for him. Now what can I do that I can learn from his game that can work for me?’
“(But) I think that’s not just with Steve; that’s with any player. Watching Virat or watching Kane Williamson, you’re trying to look at their game and work out, ‘Okay, what makes them good?’ and ‘Can I add a bit of their game into my game, the things that we think are good and that are transferable? Like, can I walk across as far as Steve gets? Of course I can. But do I have as much access on the off-side? No, I don’t.’”
Marnus Labuschagne, pictured celebrating a wicket with Steve Smith during a Test against India in Perth in 2024, has always enjoyed a good relationship with the Australian champion.Source: AFP
But Labuschagne also said the ability of Smith, who is just 80 short of becoming the 12th batsmen to score 11,000 Test runs, to stay balanced amid the exaggerated shuffling to open up scoring areas is unique.
“You’ve got to balance those things out with understanding your body and the way you move and the way things happen with you and how you do it, rather than thinking of it like ‘He is just doing this’, because no-one else can do that,” he said.
Australian wicketkeeper Alex Carey agrees that Smith is on a different level to anyone he has ever played alongside.
“I’d love to play like Smudge and be as good as him, but I think he thinks about the game a little bit differently. His skills are just out of this world,” he said.
“A technique like his was probably a big shift when he did that but to be able to do what he did and then have the ability to then score a truckload of runs, it’s hard to argue with.”
What is certain is that Smith’s astonishing success ensures there will be teenagers around Australia who have adopted all his tics and quirks, which probably frustrates technical purists.
“You won’t find his technique in any batting manual, but if they’re going to rewrite one, they’ll have to put a chapter on his batting in there somewhere. He is different, but he is very effective,” Australian great Doug Walters said.
A “nightmare” to bowl to
The ability to score in all areas is just one strength of a man Australia’s white call captain Mitch Marsh describes as a “genius” at the crease.
Another is responding to a challenge and finding a solution. Just when a bowler thinks he has found a weakness to exploit, Smith will adjust and flip the battle his way.
“He’s a problem solver and is able to adapt his technique on the fly against all bowlers and probably all conditions as well,” Carey said.
“He’s just so good at working it out and putting the game in his favour. He plays the game the way that he wants to.”
Australian teammate Michael Neser said that skill is what makes him such a headache for bowlers around the world and in domestic cricket tasked with chasing his wicket.
“He is a nightmare to bowl too because of the way he can manipulate the field, which makes it super tricky to bowl to him,” he said.
“Obviously, we have our plans and it might have worked once or twice, but then he knows what you’re doing, and he’ll adapt to it. That’s why he’s done so well for so long. His ability to adapt to what oppositions throw to him is unbelievable.
“And his mental strength, I think, is world class. So is his ability to stay in the zone and focus for so long. I haven’t seen many do that. Probably no-one.”
Steve Smith and Mitch Marsh of Australia celebrates a 300-run partnership during the Third Test of the 2017/18 Ashes at the WACA.Source: Getty Images
Hughes, who set eyes on Smith when the Aussie was still on his P-plates and living at home, will always back in a fast bowler.
But he is an Aussie first and foremost and said that he keeps a close eye on Smith in the infancy of his innings, hoping that he will be jumping about. Skittishness would usually please a bowler but Hughes sees it differently with Smith.
“As a bowler, you try to figure out where you’d bowl to him, and the thing that you can’t figure out is that you could bowl six balls in the same place in an over and he would hit you to six different parts of the ground,” he said.
“He’d be on the front foot, he’d be on the back foot, he’d be hitting you off side, he’d be hitting you leg side, he’d be hitting you behind point (and) he’d … do my head in.
“And just the energy that he brings to the crease is so good. I like it when he’s at his fidgety best because that means he’s switched on when he comes out. It’s almost as though he’s got too much on his mind to relax.”
A man of few words at the crease
The 37-year-old presents as the busiest man in the world when he is at the crease, someone who takes in every angle.
If the sight screen is slightly askew, he will demand action. And if an influencer is posing for clout in his eye-line, look out.
But that does not mean he is offering his partners advice at one hundred words a minute.
His brain may be in overdrive but he is a man who minds his own end, according to Mitch Marsh, who shared the only 300-run plus partnership Smith has compiled at the WACA in 2017 when the superstar posted his highest Test score of 239.
“He goes into a different state of mind, which is probably wise. (There is) not a lot of chat. (It is) just, ‘Keep going, son. Shot, son.’ That’s about it,” Marsh said.
“He’s very much in his own world and when you understand that, it’s absolutely fine. I’m sure that if he was to bat with a younger person, he’d be more open to chatting, but he’s just in his own world and in his own little bubble and, I guess, in his happy place.”
‘STOP BEING A PRINCESS’ – Smith roasted! | 00:53
Setting new ground in the slips
Australian great Adam Gilchrist has always had a close eye for what occurs behind the stumps and what has impressed him most about Smith, the slips fielder, is the sound of softness.
At some stage this series, and most likely in Durban given he sits level with Joe Root on 219, “Smudge” will become the leading taker of catches in Test cricket aside from wicketkeepers.
The swiftness of his reflexes and his ability to read the play is one factor but so, too, are hands as soft as an old leather couch that has been worn into peak comfortability.
“I just love the way the ball sounds going deep into his hands,” Gilchrist told Fox Cricket’s podcast The Follow On last summer.
“If you do watch the warm-up, or see them in practice, it is just a deep, soft sound.”
Smith equals all-time catches record | 00:48
The catching is one thing. The tactical application is another, with Smith demonstrating why he has been such a successful captain when standing in for Pat Cummins in recent years.
Tasmanian Beau Webster has fielded alongside the champion since his elevation to the Test arena and says the chat is not always centred on cricket. But when it does turn back to the game, Smith is encyclopaedic in his knowledge.
“Since my debut I’ve stood next to him at third slip a lot of the time, so we’re constantly chatting there. (It’s) probably not real cricket-related stuff, more golf or anything else that we can think of,” he said.
“But I think he is probably the greatest batsman of our generation to play the game and even just to pick his brain on tactics around the bowlers, the fields, and learn that way when I’m out in the field is huge.
“I’ve learned a lot from Steve. Obviously with his batting, he’s got his own method and I’m a big believer that everyone bats differently, and you can have success multiple different ways. And he’s shown, more than anyone, that you can throw the textbook out and do what works for you and have success. So I admire him for that, first and foremost. But he’s just a great problem solver in anything it comes to.
“I think his tactics in the field … he’s probably telling us slips what he would do if he was captain and relaying that to Patty and whatnot. And then when he’s batting, conditions-based, it feels like he’s always the first one to work it out, to work out a method to have some success.”
Beau Webster marvels at Steve Smith’s wealth of knowledge of all-things cricket.Source: Getty Images
What is he like at a BBQ?
Carey is adamant about one thing.
If Smith was to host a barbie at some stage in the golden twilight of his career, he would hire caterers.
“He wouldn’t be cooking the BBQ. I don’t think he has ever picked up a cooking utensil,” he said.
And Neser is certain of another matter. It is unlikely the pair would get the chance to have a casual chat, not that it has anything to do with the State of Origin rivalry between Queensland and NSW.
“I’m not chatting to him there because Marnus is chewing his ear off,” he said.
But Smith’s teammates are almost universal in where they would like him to host a team dinner, saying they are more than happy to hit up his west-side pad in New York whenever the invitation lobs. But cricket is not the only thing on the menu now.
“He loves his golf. He’s fun to be around. It’s not always about cricket,” Travis Head said.
“I think it once was but that is slowly dying out now. There’s other interests and whatnot. I think when I first came in, cricket was (the topic) 24/7, period. But I think he’s got other things going on now that he is getting a bit older.”
Smith gets plenty of rounds of golf in between walking the dogs in Central Park, snaring coffees around Manhattan and taking in the New York Knicks during the basketball season.
Carey, while adamant that he would not be eating anything if Smith was involved in the cooking process, has no doubt that a barbie in the Big Apple would be a hit.
“Off the field he is just a very humble guy as well, so to have a beer and have a barbecue with him (would be) great,” the Aussie wicketkeeper said.
“He’s a great man. He’s funny. He does switch off from the game and (that) is a pretty good ability as well. But he’ll be sorely missed when that time comes.”
Gilly on Smiths spot in AUS T20 WC? | 07:30
What will his retirement mean for Australia?
When is the big question and former Aussie captain Allan Border is concerned about what will happen to Australian cricket once the ‘talisman’ when he retires.
He said perhaps the only silver lining is that when Smith does call stumps on his career, it might shelve the idea among some of his teammates and prospective Australian batters that the only secret to success is overtraining.
“If you took him out of that side, then it would be really noticeable because the batting would then look more and more fragile,” Border said.
“While he’s there, there’s something about him. You know if Steve Smith’s batting well, he’s going to be good for X number of runs in a series. You know he’ll play some influential knocks for sure. It’s a known quality and it is so good for our young blokes to have him there.
“But in other ways, because he goes about his work in a different way, he influences them, but that influence is not great because not everyone needs to hit 10,000 balls a day.”
Brendon Julian, who features on this week’s episode of The Follow On assessing the upcoming South African tour, suspects Smith will carry on until at least the Ashes.
“He is making the Ashes, trust me. Australian cricketers do not want to miss out on an Ashes series. I would be dumbfounded if he does not make it to England,” he said.
The best of his generation: Mitch Marsh – pictured walking off the WACA with Steve Smith at the WACA in the Test where the champion recorded his highest score – said the star will be missed when he retires.Source: Getty Images
But the theme from every Australian cricketer spoken to for this feature on Smith is the same. He will be sorely missed whenever he calls time.
“(It has been a) privilege to play with him,” Marsh, the white ball captain, said.
“(He is) one of those batters that no matter what situation he went in, you were reasonably calm. And there was a period there where his conversion rate if he got to 30 was out of his world.
“I was lucky enough to have a few amazing partnerships with him and just loved the way he went about it. Hopefully he still has a little bit left to go, but yeah, he is an incredible player (and the) best player of my own generation. When the time does come, he will be missed.”
Smith breaks BBL record | 00:34