From the time Australia’s stand-in captain Steve Smith ended his 18-month Test century drought with a classy 101 on the day of the third Test against at the Gabba, Brisbane, he has gone on to reach three figures in three of his next four matches. Following the end of the second Test against Sri Lanka, where he scored 131 runs, Smith was asked about when the ‘lightbulb moment’ behind his current resurgence came. “I just felt like I was batting nicely, and getting some time in the middle maybe. As soon as you get that one good score you get a bit of a read on some bowlers that you’re facing, and you feel a bit more comfortable. “It’s the old saying, there’s nothing like time in the middle.
“That, for me, was the Gabba I suppose and from there I started to feel comfortable facing a lot of balls and getting a bit of rhythm. I can’t really put it down to anything other than putting faith in what I was doing at practice, trusting it and knowing the game ebbs and flows,” he said to reporters in the post-game press conference.
By making 131 in the second Test at the Galle International Stadium on Friday, which Australia won to register a remarkable 2-0 series triumph, Smith has now equalled the legendary Rahul Dravid and England’s Joe Root in the list of most Test centuries.
The superb century in Galle also made Smith the joint-fifth highest century-maker in history of Test cricket. Smith, 35, also admitted that ‘there’s a lot of luck involved’ in such tricky conditions.
“Even when I wasn’t getting the runs I wanted I was still saying to all you guys (media) I was actually batting quite nicely. Things can turn around quickly with a bit of luck.
“First innings of the first Test here, I got dropped on one and went on to make it count. Another day I get caught and we’re not having this same conversation.
“There’s a lot of luck involved, particularly in these conditions and even the conditions back home (Australia) with the amount of seam movement there’s been there. You certainly need some luck, and you’ve got to make the most of it which I’ve done in the last little bit,” he added.
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