0Steve Smith — world number 1 mouth, not number 1 batsman

Con­grat­u­la­tions to Steve Smith who has taken over the “Glen McGrath” pro­fess­or­ship for the pub­lic under­stand­ing of Aus­trali­an hubris. To be fair to McGrath, a man with over 500 test wick­ets, and integ­ral mem­ber of one of the greatest sides of all time, he could be for­giv­en for think­ing his side might white­wash Eng­land, although say­ing it aloud is insult­ing and isn’t a part of the spir­it of respect in which crick­et should be said. Steve Smith how­ever, a man who was pathet­ic the last time he vis­ited Eng­land and pathet­ic again in the cur­rent series (if we exclude his excel­lent double hun­dred which was made on a flat noth­ing pitch at lord’s).

If you haven’t seen Steve’s pre-Ashes pre­dic­tions, here’s the video for you to enjoy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=90y8CPjE1a8

Eng­land have won 5 of the last 7 Ashes series, and all 4 home series since 2005 (and that against a vastly super­i­or Aus­trali­an side to the cur­rent line-up). In that con­text, no mat­ter how good your cur­rent form, you will always look like an arrog­ant berk for shout­ing your mouth off, espe­cially if you are yet to make any kind off impres­sion in the con­di­tions in which the series will be played.

This kind of rude unsport­ing “pub­lic sledging” is why here in Eng­land we so love to see Aus­tralia lose. Not just lose to Eng­land, but lose to any­one. Once upon a time the West Indies were dom­in­ant, but their decline quickly brought sym­pathy and a hope that they will soon return to being truly com­pet­it­ive at the top level. The Aus­trali­ans can expect no such sym­pathy until they show a great­er respect for others.

So — Steve Smith — here’s hop­ing you learn from this low point of your career, and as the Aus­tralia cap­tain in wait­ing, show a new atti­tude from Aus­trali­an crick­et more in keep­ing with the spir­it of the game. If you need any advice just pop across the water and pay a vis­it to Brendan McCul­lum who will no doubt be delighted to show you how it is done.