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General
Steven Smith
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Personal information
Full name Steven Peter Devereux Smith
Born 2 June 1989 (1989-06-02) (age 34)
Sydney, Australia
Height 5 ft 9 in (1.75 m)
Batting style Right-handed
Bowling style Right-arm leg break
Role Allrounder
International information
National side Australia
Test debut (cap 415) 13 July 2010 v Pakistan
Last Test 4 September 2019 v England
ODI debut (cap 182) 19 February 2010 v West Indies
Last ODI 11 July 2019 v England
ODI shirt no. 49
T20I debut (cap 43) 5 February 2010 v Pakistan
Last T20I 27 March 2016 v India
T20I shirt no. 49
Domestic team information
Years Team
2007–present New South Wales Blues (squad no. 19)
2009 Royal Challengers Bangalore
2010 Worcestershire
2011 Kochi Tuskers Kerala
2011–present Sydney Sixers
2012–present Pune Warriors India
2013–present Antigua Hawksbills
Career statistics
Competition Test ODI FC LA
Matches 67 118 122 164
Runs scored 6,870 3,810 11,118 5,605
Batting average 64.81 41.41 59.13 44.84
100s/50s 26/26 8/23 40/46 10/36
Top score 239 164 239 164
Balls bowled 1,369 1,070 5,093 2,012
Wickets 17 28 67 47
Bowling average 55.76 34.39 53.16 38.63
5 wickets in innings 0 0 1 0
10 wickets in match 0 0 0 n/a
Best bowling 3/18 3/16 7/64 3/16
Catches/stumpings 102/– 65/– 180/– 94/–
Source: CricketArchive; http://www.espncricinfo.com/australia/content/player/267192.html, 8 September 2019

Steven Peter Devereux "Steve" Smith is an Australian international cricketer who currently plays for the New South Wales Blues and the Pune Warriors India. An all-rounder, Smith bats right-handed and bowls right arm leg spin. Smith has played for the Kent Second XI, New South Wales, the Sutherland Cricket Club and Illawong Menai Cricket Club. One of his earliest achievements was being the leading wicket taker at the 2008 KFC 20/20 competition. This was despite only playing 4 out of the 5 games. He took 4/15 against Queensland and finished with 9 wickets overall. Due to his efforts, he was named the second best player of the tournament. His mother is British.

First Class Career

Smith made his First Class debut against Western Australia at the SCG on 24 January 2008. He scored 33 in his only innings as NSW defeated WA outright.

He was part of the New South Wales team that won the 2009 Twenty20 Champions League.

Smith recently achieved his highest score in One Day Domestic (ODD) competitions in Australia against Tasmania. Following a middle order collapse, Smith resurrected the innings with a quickfire 81 off 58 deliveries, taking the Blues total to a respectable 271. The game was lost despite Smith's efforts.

Smith was called up to the Australian Test squad in 2010 to cover for spinner Nathan Hauritz who was in doubt for Boxing Day Test against Pakistan, but Hauritz managed to recover. In the first innings of the last Test of the 2013 Ashes Series at The Oval, Smith scored his maiden hundred, reaching the total in style by hitting a six off the bowling of Jonathan Trott.

By the end of the 2009–2010 domestic season Smith had a first-class batting average of over 50 after just 13 first-class matches. While his first-class bowling average in the high forties was not as impressive, his bowling appeared to be steadily improving following some well-publicised mentoring from Shane Warne. In the final match of the season he took 7 for 64 in the second innings against South Australia.

Playing in a club match, right-handed Smith took guard left-handed and hit a six.

International career

In the 2010 Twenty-Twenty World Cup he took 11 wickets over seven games at an average of 14.81 to finish as the equal second highest wicket-taker at the tournament.

Smith made his test debut at Lords in 2010, playing both tests against Pakistan in the 2010 test series played in England. His bowling was not required in the first innings but he took 3 wickets for 51 in the second innings of his debut test. In the second test he was called to bowl only ten overs for no wickets but played an impressive role with the bat in the second innings. Batting with the tail and rogering the strike, he scored 77 including nine fours and two sixes off successive balls, helping Australia to set a competitive target after having been bowled out for 88 in the first innings.

He made his One Day International debut for Australia in the fifth match of the ODI Series against the West Indies on 19 February 2010 and his Test debut against Pakistan at Lord's on 13 July 2010.

Smith's fielding attracted attention during the 2009–2010 season with some spectacular catches in the outfield.

He made his maiden test century in the fifth Ashes test of the 2013 series in England, becoming only the sixth Australian to reach his maiden Test 100 with a six.

Big Bash League

Previous seasons (before 2011–12)

The Australian domestic twenty20 competition was previously a province-based six teams competition which was held until 2010–11 season. The competition was named as KFC Big Bash. Smith used to play for New South Wales which won the title once in 2008–09 season.

Big Bash League 2011–12

From 2011–12 season, the league became city-based league (name was changed to Big Bash League) and featured eight teams including Sydney Sixers of which Brad Haddin was selected as captain but he couldn't play due to test duties so Smith filled in and did a great job. Smith led the team to victory on the inaugural season of the new league. As an all-rounder, he scored 166 runs with the bat from 9 matches with a strike rate of 130.71, including a half century with the bat. With the ball, he took 6 wickets with an economy rate of 8.06 per over. Also with his athletic high class fielding abilities, he took 9 catches throughout the tournament. In the final match, the Sixers beat Perth Scorchers by 7 wickets while chasing down the target of 157 within 18.5 overs after the Scorchers made 156/5 in 20 overs. Due to his blistering form during the Big Bash League, he attracted the eyes of legendary Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly and thus was picked up by the IPL team Pune Warriors India captained by Angelo Mathews to play for the Pune team in IPL 2012.

Indian Premier League

Steve Smith was first bought by Royal Challengers Bangalore at IPL 2010 as a replacement for Jesse Ryder.
During the 2011 IPL player auction, Steve Smith was bought by Kochi Tuskers Kerala for $200,000. But he had to undergo an ankle operation was not available to play for them that season. The next season, Kochi Tuskers got disbanded from the IPL. As a result, Steve Smith was put up for auction, but went unsold at the 2012 IPL Players Auction. But he was brought as a replacement for Mitchell Marsh in the Pune Warriors India team.

In his first match for the Pune Warriors India, he scored 39 runs off 32 balls to lead his team to victory against the Mumbai Indians. He received the Man of the match award for this effort. In IPL 2012, Smith saved 6 runs through a stunning fielding effort against the Kolkata Knight Riders at the Eden Gardens.

2018–present: ball tampering and loss of captaincy

Tour of South Africa 2018

Smith was rested for the T20 series against New Zealand and England so he could prepare for the South African Tests. The series was marred by controversial incidents on and off field. Australia won the first Test by 118 runs with Smith making scores of 56 and 38 runs. The result was overshadowed by a stairwell confrontation between Australian vice captain David Warner and South African wicket-keeper Quinton de Kock. Footage emerged showing Warner having to be physically restrained after words were spoken between the two. This led to Smith and opposing captain Faf du Plessis being called to a meeting with umpires and match officials, where they were reminded of their responsibility to control their teams. South Africa won the second Test by 6 wickets, with Smith's contributions being only 25 and 11 runs. Smith's diminishing returns with the bat and lower than average strike rate suggested that he may have been struggling somewhat. During the match South African fast bowler and player of the match Kagiso Rabada was suspended for the following Test after he made physical contact with Smith after he dismissed him. Rabada successfully appealed the ban; a decision that annoyed Smith.

Ball-tampering incident and banning

Main article: 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal

Australia were beaten by 322 runs in the third Test, with Smith barely contributing to the score. However, the match result was overshadowed by illegal ball tampering that occurred on the third day. Cameron Bancroft, the second-youngest and most inexperienced member of the team, was captured by television cameras surreptitiously using sandpaper to rough up the cricket ball. He then hid the sandpaper in his underwear before being confronted by the on-field umpires. When attending the press conference at the conclusion of the third day's play with Bancroft, Smith admitted that the "leadership group" of the team discussed tampering with the ball to influence the result of the match during the lunch break. He admitted that he was part of the "leadership group" but did not identify the other members. Smith and vice-captain David Warner stood down from the team leadership the morning after the incident, but still played on, and wicketkeeper Tim Paine took over as interim captain for the rest of the Test match. Subsequently, match referee Andy Pycroft for the ICC banned Smith for one Test match and fined him 100% of his match fee. He handed Bancroft three demerit points and fined him 75% of his match fee.

Cricket Australia launched an independent investigation, charging Smith with bringing the game into disrepute. He was suspended and sent home from the tour. The report stated that, while he did not develop the plan, Smith was found to have misled match officials and others, and as captain did not act to prevent it. He was therefore banned from all international and domestic cricket for 12 months, and is not to be considered for a leadership role for 12 months after that. Warner and Bancroft also received bans. Smith also had his contract with the Rajasthan Royals IPL team for the 2018 season terminated by the Board of Control for Cricket in India as a consequence of the sanctions.

Smith arrived in Sydney later that day. In a press conference at Sydney Airport, a tearful Smith started by saying that he had nothing to add to Cricket Australia's report. He said that as captain of the Australian cricket team, he took full responsibility (even though he did not devise the plan to change the condition of the ball or actually perform the act), and that he had made a serious error in judgement: "It was a failure of leadership, my leadership." As well as apologising to his "teammates, to fans of cricket all over the world and to all Australians who are disappointed and angry", he specifically referred to the effect that the incident had had on his parents and implored others faced with questionable decisions to consider their parents. He added, "I know I will regret this for the rest of my life. I'm absolutely gutted. I hope in time I can earn back respect and forgiveness."

International centuries

Main article: List of international cricket centuries by Steve Smith

As of September 2019, Smith has scored 26 Test and eight ODI centuries.

External links

Template:Australia Cricket Team

Flag of Australia
Australia squad 2011 Cricket World Cup

7 White 11 Nannes 12 Ferguson 14 Ponting (c) 18 Krezja 23 Clarke 25 Johnson 29 D. Hussey 32 Tait 33 Watson 36 Paine 41 Hastings 48 M. Hussey 49 Smith 57 Haddin) 58 Lee Coach: Nielsen

Flag of Australia
Australia Squad 2017–18 Ashes

 Smith (c)  Warner (vc)  Agar  Bancroft  Bird  Cummins  Handscomb  Hazlewood  Khawaja  Lyon  M. Marsh  S. Marsh  Maxwell  Paine  Sayers  Starc Coach: Lehmann

Flag of Australia
Australia Squad 2019 Ashes

7 Paine (c) 30 Cummins (vc) 62 Head (vc) 43 Bancroft 14 Harris 38 Hazlewood 1 Khawaja 33 Labuschagne 67 Lyon 8 M. Marsh 18 Neser 19 Pattinson 10 Siddle 49 Smith 56 Starc 13 Wade 31 Warner Coach: Langer

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