Steve Smith

Steve Smith is a right-handed batsman from Australia, ICC Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017, with a Test average above 56 and 37 Test centuries, making him the highest-averaging active batsman in the format. He bats like nobody has ever batted before, shuffling across the crease in a movement that coaching manuals would call a technical flaw, playing the ball impossibly late, and scoring runs through areas of the ground that other batsmen do not even consider.

Smith's brilliance lies in making the unorthodox repeatable. A right-handed batsman, his exaggerated shuffle to the off side looks vulnerable but creates angles that allow him to manipulate the ball into gaps on both sides of the wicket. His hand-eye coordination is extraordinary: he adjusts mid-shot in ways that should not work but consistently produce runs. In second innings, when pitches are at their most difficult and teams need someone to hold the batting together, Smith averages above 56, a statistic that speaks to temperament as much as talent.

The ball-tampering scandal in 2018 in Cape Town remains the defining crisis of Smith's career. As Australia captain, he was banned for 12 months, stripped of the captaincy, and returned to international cricket carrying the weight of public shame. His response was the 2019 Ashes in England, where he scored 774 runs in 7 innings across the 5-Test 2019 Ashes series, including a double century at Old Trafford that silenced every critic in the ground. It was one of the most remarkable individual performances in Ashes history and one of the most compelling redemption stories in modern sport.

Smith played a key role in Australia's 4-1 Ashes victory in 2025-26, his partnership with Travis Head in the middle order providing the stability that Australia's batting lineup needed against England's aggressive Bazball approach. At 37, questions about how long he can maintain his extraordinary standards are beginning to surface, but Smith has answered those questions with runs at every stage of his career.

In 2026, Smith is expected to feature in Australia's tour of South Africa from September to October, with Tests at Newlands in Cape Town, the ground where the 2018 scandal unfolded. The narrative writes itself. Check whatisthetime.now/country/australia for Australian time or whatisthetime.now/country/south-africa for South African time during the tour.