'I've found my hands': The quarantine finding that may set up a magical summer for Smith
After months of trying in vain, Steve Smith believes he has finally cracked the magic code to his batting just in the nick of time to ward off a barrage of rib ticklers from India's all-star pace attack.
Australia's players have dreaded hotel quarantine life but Smith's two-week confinement at Sydney Olympic Park may in time be pinpointed as the key moment of the summer.
Steve Smith says he has made an important step in his preparation for the season.Credit:Getty Images
One of the greatest batsman has "found his hands" again. Smith has in the past confessed to not knowing how to hold the bat, but that is part of the idiosyncratic ways that has made him so good.
It has taken Smith, who did not bat for about four months during lockdown, longer than he would have liked to rediscover the feel but it has come at the right time, days before the first one-day international against India.
This will help ease any concern over Smith's form after an IPL campaign that fell well short of the high standards he sets for himself.
"People close to me that know me well, I've found my hands the last few days, which I'm extremely excited about," Smith said on Tuesday morning.
"It's taken me probably about three and half or fourth months to do it, but found them now, which is pleasing and I actually look forward to going back to the nets again this afternoon to have another hit and just reinforce it and get started again in a few days' time."
It may seem extraordinary to the layperson that one of the game's greats could have lost his hands but Smith is all about the minor details. This is a player who needs his shoelaces tied in a particular way.
"It's just getting that feel and the look of the bat behind my toe the right way and the way my hands come up on the bat," Smith said.
"It's hard to explain but it just hasn't quite been right until probably two days ago, I found a little something and everything just clicked in. It changes where you meet the ball to hit the ball in certain places, so just slight things and bits of rhythm aren't quite right.
"I had a big smile on my face after training the other day, because I walked past Andrew McDonald I think it was and said 'I found 'em again', I was really excited. So it's taken me a lot longer than usual, I don't know why, whether it was a big [break], I pretty much didn't bat for about four months during the start of Covid-19, maybe a bit longer.
"So whether it's just taken me a bit longer to get them back, I don't really know, but I'm glad I've been able to find something the last few days and I'm excited about that."
Smith made a similar complaint weeks before the 2017/18 Ashes series in which he plundered England for 687 runs at 137 as Australia regained the urn 4-0.
"I think so, the first Shield game or two I remember I was struggling with it, I didn't quite have my rhythm and just the way I was holding the bat wasn't quite right, so I remember I found it in the game against Western Australia at Hurstville Oval, something sort of clicked halfway through that innings I reckon, and then I was good to go and I was fine," Smith said.
"So I had a similar moment the other day, albeit in the nets, but I'm excited by it."
Andrew Wu writes on cricket and AFL for The Sydney Morning Herald