NEWS
Follow UsAt the age of 35, just over six months away from turning 36, it is no secret that Steve Smith is closer to the end of his Test career than the start.
Yet Smith still trains with the same intensity, leaving no stone unturned in practice, hitting hundreds if not thousands of balls. On December 13 (Friday), on the eve of the third Test in Brisbane, Australia held an optional training session and Smith was one among four batters to partake in it.
Lack of preparation has never been an issue with Smith, but former Australia batter Mike Hussey feels that, at this point in his career, Smith might be doing more harm than good by exhausting a lot of energy in training.
"I just really observed his preparation. It's well documented that him and Marnus in particular, they hit a lot of balls, they practice really hard and they do a great deal of preparation.
"And I just said (to Smith), 'It's worth just thinking about how much you hit, and is it actually helping you, or is it slightly detrimental?'” Hussey told cricket.com.au.
"I think as a young player, volume is really important. But as you get older, I certainly found from my own perspective, it wasn't about hitting more balls and working yourself into the ground. It was more about coming into games as mentally and physically fresh as you possibly can.”
Smith has begun the ongoing Border-Gavaskar Trophy in the worst fashion imaginable, posting scores of 0, 17 & 2. His place is not under threat yet, despite his average for the year reading 23.20, but Smith will certainly feel the need to live up to the high standards he’s set for himself.
Hussey believes that, by overexerting himself, Smith might lose valuable ‘mental and physical edge’ in a long series like the ongoing one.
"My concern was, especially over a five-Test series, is he doing more harm than good by just maybe losing a little bit of mental or physical edge? In Test match cricket, against a good attack, you're going to get found out,” Hussey said.
"And look, he was unlucky in Adelaide … and I'm not saying that was the reason he missed out, but just more something to think about moving forward."
Smith, meanwhile, admitted that it’s not ideal to overexert himself. But the 35-year-old said that he is still hitting plenty of balls since he does not feel fully satisfied with his technical situation.
"In an ideal world, I probably wouldn't hit as many balls as I do in the lead-up … it's just if I need to feel a bit better with something or work on a certain movement, or whatever I might need that last session,” Smith said.
He further added that, every now and then, he takes it easy - something he revealed he did before the second Test in Adelaide.
"Last game, for instance, I didn't train the day before," Smith says. "I felt good. It was a hot day, so I didn't want to fatigue myself mentally, and I wanted to give myself every chance of having enough in the tank to go and hopefully score a big one, which didn't happen (laughs).
"I do that every now and again, if I feel like I'm batting well and I've got everything that I need out of my sessions.”
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