Steve Smith showed off his remarkable powers of adaptability and concentration in his final tune-up ahead of the home Test season, scoring the slowest century of his first-class career in the Marsh Sheffield Shield on Tuesday.
Just a week after his jaw-dropping 80 not out from just 51 balls in a T20 against Pakistan, Smith faced nearly six times as many deliveries for his 42nd first-class ton across the first two days of NSW's match against Western Australia at the SCG.
The 290 balls it took him to reach the milestone are the most he's ever faced to reach triple figures, 'eclipsing' his marathon 261-ball ton at the Gabba in the opening Test of the 2017-18 Ashes series.
It means he's now scored two of the three slowest centuries of his career in his past two Shield games, having posted a 235-ball hundred against Tasmania last month before heading off for international duties.
Not only was the knock against WA an ominous sign for Pakistan, for whom dismissing Smith will undoubtedly be their bowlers' top priority for their two-Test Domain Series, it also highlighted the right-hander’s unrivalled ability to change gears.
Back-to-back T20 campaigns against Sri Lanka and Pakistan required Smith to constantly get bat on ball and hit boundaries from early in his innings.
He did that with aplomb in stroking two unbeaten half-centuries in three hits during the two series victories, displaying extraordinary stroke-play in his innings at Manuka Oval last Tuesday.
To then bat for nearly six hours in composing a laborious hundred on a sluggish SCG surface where scoring proved difficult necessitated an entirely different set of skills and mental approach.
"The wicket kind of dictated (Smith's approach)," opener Daniel Solway said on day one after he put on 82 for the second wicket with Smith.
"If you bowl disciplined, you need to take risks to score and they (WA) bowled quite well.
Smith was eventually dismissed for 103 in bizarre fashion before lunch on day two, appearing nonplussed at the decision to give him out caught behind after trying to ramp a Marcus Stoinis bouncer, with WA keeper Josh Inglis standing up to the stumps.
Smith almost single-handedly held together Australia's top order together earlier this year to ensure the visitors retained the Ashes urn for the first time since 2001.
He admitted the five-Test series, in which he spent more than 32 hours at the crease and scored 774 runs at 110.57, left him exhausted.
"It was probably a bit of everything: mental, emotional, physical," Smith said last month.
"Towards the last Test match, it got to day two and my mind was saying ‘keep going’ but my body had shut down and wouldn't let me do anything.
"I was a little bit sick after that."
Now, however, Smith looks as fresh as ever to resume his run-scoring feats.
STEVE SMITH'S SLOWEST FIRST-CLASS CENTURIES
290 balls - NSW v Western Australia, SCG (November 2019)
261 balls - Australia v England, Gabba (November 2017)
235 balls - NSW v Tasmania, Drummoyne Oval (October 2019)
227 balls - Australia v India, Ranchi (March 2017)
https://www.cricket.com.au/news/ste...ss-dismissal-caught-marcus-stoinis/2019-11-12
