10 Interesting Facts About Steve Smith
Steven Peter Devereux Smith or simply Steve Smith, is an Australian international cricketer and former captain of the Australian national team. He represents New South Wales in domestic cricket and Delhi Daredevils in the IPL.
Today, on his birthday, we take a look at 10 interesting facts about him.
1) He made his debut as a leg spinner and batting at No 8. In fact, in his international debut against Pakistan in 2010, he was picked as a bowler. He was often referred to as the new Shane Warne.
Steve Smith was the spinner with the most wickets alongside Saeed Ajmal in the ICC T20 World Cup 2010 in West Indies. Smith picked 11 wickets in 7 innings at an average of 14.81 with an economy rate of 7.08.
2) He was the vice-captain of Australia in the 2014-2015 Border Gavaskar trophy but due to Micheal Clarke being ruled out because of an injury, Smith was chosen as the captain.
3) Smith became the first Australian captain to start his captaincy with three consecutive centuries. This achievement made him the second batsman after Jacques Kallis to score a century in every match of a Test Series.
4) During the same series, he surpassed Don Bradman’s record (715 runs in Australia, 1947) of most runs scored by an individual in a series. Smith recorded 769 runs in the series.
5) Steve Smith has won the Allan Border Medal twice, once in 2015 and once in 2018. He was also named the Test Player of the Year and ODI Player of the Year in 2015.
6) In 2018, Smith became the fastest Australian batsman to score 10,000 runs in International cricket.
7) Unfortunately in the same year, Steve Smith was included in a controversy. Australian player Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper on the ball. It was revealed that Steve Smith and David Warner were indulged in the practice too. Smith and Warner were banned for a year while Bancroft was banned for 9 months.
8) In 2017, Smith was involved in a brain fade controversy against India. He was given out by LBW and while deciding whether to take the review or not he looked at his teammates in the dressing room to get signs or signals that may indicate him to take the review or not. Virat Kohli immediately showed concern over the matter and headed towards the umpire to give Smith a warning. Smith then walked off without taking a review. He was highly critizised by fans and players.
9) Steve Smith is a huge fan of tennis legend Roger Federer and he likes to watch tennis in free time. He also loves horses and co owns three race horses.
10) Steve Smith is currently on 2nd position in the ICC Test Batting Rankings with 7540 runs and 891 ratings.
