Steve Smith brought back his famously exaggerated back-and-across trigger movement during the Gabba Test between Australia and India, instantly casting viewers' minds back to the 2019 Ashes where he scored a truckload of runs with a similar batting style.
Ever since Smith transformed from Australia's next big leg-spin prospect to a batting run-machine, he has been known as much for the way he scores his runs as he has been for the sheer volume of them.
A peak batting average of 64.81 and a peak ICC batting rankings rating of 947, second only to Don Bradman, have been achieved through an unorthodox-looking technique that has evolved not only over the years, but also over the course of a series or even a particular match at times.
The origins of Smith's trademark back-and-across trigger movement at the point of delivery date back to 2013, when he employed it for the first time during the Perth Test where he scored his second Test hundred.
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"I started a prelim movement that I've had ever since – back and across – and I started it when I was on about 10 I think in that innings, just after lunch. I went to lunch on about 10 and [when] I came out after lunch they were bowling quite short at me. And I started a back and across movement and got a few away and felt really good and scored a hundred," Smith would say two years later.
The movement kept getting more and more pronounced over the years, so much so that by 2017, his back toe would usually be outside off stump and front toe outside leg at the point of release, creating an open stance that would mislead bowlers into attacking his stumps in the hope of getting him out lbw or bowled only for his god-like hand-eye coordination to work it's magic.
Smith was at his peak during the 2019 Ashes when he returned after serving a ban. He scored 774 runs in seven outings at 110.5 in the series. This was the period when he achieved his highest batting average in Tests, with his genius being on full display as he often used multiple trigger movements and stances, primarily going back-and-across and keeping all scoring options across the off- and leg-sides.
Also read: How Steve Smith’s technique evolved over a decade to become ‘close to perfection’ in 2022
Smith's changing triggers in the BGT
The Smith of 2024 is a bit of a shadow of the one who was dominating Test cricket across the world a few years back. He came into this series averaging 39 since the start of 2023, having discarded the opening experiment that lasted four Tests.
In the first Test of the series in Perth, Smith walked out to bat in the middle of one of the deadliest new-ball spells in recent times by Jasprit Bumrah, and was caught plumb in front for a golden duck. Then, he had walked back-and-across just as Bumrah started his delivery stride, but perhaps didn't sync his movements perfectly and ended up missing a ball that crashed into his pads and would have crashed into the stumps.
Immediately, Smith let go of his traditional trigger and stance and switched to a much more orthodox side-on position during release, almost completely eliminating any pre-delivery movement in the second innings of the Perth Test.
This was similar, if not exactly the same to the method he had adopted during the 2022-23 ODI series against England, which he had himself claimed to be "close to perfection". He continued with that technique in the pink-ball Test in Adelaide, but returns of 17 and 2 across the two innings with the more orthodox setup meant Smith changed his stance for the second time in the series in the space of three games.
In Brisbane, Smith switched back to his tried-and-tested exaggerated back-and-across trigger, getting his head over the off stump, and opening up his stance. This meant Smith had to rely more on his hand-eye coordination, reducing his margin for error in terms of missing straight balls.
The Indian think tank reacted to it straightaway, changing their line of attack to the stumps and employing 5-4 off-side fields with one catcher at leg slip. Having had success against Smith with this strategy, both earlier in this series and the last time they were in Australia, they had every reason to get excited and attack the stumps.
Steve Smith has brought the exaggerated trigger back. Started working with it in the indoor nets in Brisbane three days back #AusvInd pic.twitter.com/rJ2kNyLE4I
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) December 15, 2024
Smith had his fair share of luck, often inside-edging balls onto his pads and onto the leg side. But with the degree of movement available at the Gabba, both in the air and off the wicket, being significantly lesser than it was in the last two Tests, Smith was able to adjust, eventually finding his form back and scoring his first Test ton in one-and-a-half years.
It wasn't his most fluent Test hundred, but he's at a stage of his career where the hand-eye coordination of batters starts weakening, leaving those who depend largely on that aspect of batting technique more susceptible to a drop in returns than those who don't. This knock might just give Smith back the belief that the main skill that took him to where he is today, has not deserted him yet.
