Ashes 2019: Steve Smith is a perfectionist and it was there for everyone to witness on Day 1 at Edgbaston

Steve Smith is a perfectionist. Smith is so detail orientated that even when he leaves a ball in practice sessions, he feels it is his prerogative to know the line of the delivery. On the opening day of the Ashes series with Australia struggling on 104/4, Smith had shouldered arms to a Stuart Broad off-cutter. To a naked eye, it looked plumb and the umpire obliged by raising his finger. Smith, however, shook his head in disbelief and immediately reviewed the decision. As Smith waited for the third umpire to make his decision, he rested on his bat, looked at the large screen and then just shook his head again. One part of his mind would have been confident. He had prepared for this occasion with precision, but on the other hand, it had been sixteen months since he last played a Test match. Could his judgment have disintegrated in that time? Finally, a sigh of relief and an expulsion of air, as hawk-eye confirmed the ball was missing the off-stump. The decision only repressed the belief in Smith’s mind. It had been such an emotional and turbulent year for the former skipper that had the decision gone against him it would have cast even more doubts in his mind. [caption id=“attachment_7097951” align=“alignnone” width=“825”]  Steve Smith scored a ton in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston. Reuters[/caption] Speaking at the close of play Smith admitted the fragile nature of his mind during his exile from the game. “There were times in the last 15 months where I didn’t know if I was ever going to play cricket again. I lost a bit of love for it, particularly when I had my elbow surgery,” Smith said. It was only after the day Smith had his brace removed from his elbow that gave him the new ounce of confidence. On Thursday, it was the marginal leg-before decision that went in his favour that seemed to reignite his self-assurance. It was as if he had been given a second chance, not by luck, but due to his hard work and dedication. As he took guard again there seemed to extra spring in his step. The bat thumped in the ground harder and those leaves outside the off-stump looked more dramatic with that extenuated snap of the wrists as he allowed the ball to pass through to the keeper. For the next three hours, Smith was in the zone. Perhaps he had never been happier in the past 15 months. This is the moment he would have dreamt about ever since he had the brace removed from his elbow after surgery. England tried various things, but Smith seemed to have an answer for all of them. They bowled at his stumps but defended with the full face of the bat. Broad and Chris Woakes attempted to kiss his outside edge with a series of leg-cutters that seamed away, but he kept playing inside the line. For a while now, Smith’s game has been based around eliminating the bowled and the LBW modes of dismissal from his batting. During the World Cup, Smith had been guilty of playing across the line, but in the past two weeks, he has worked tirelessly to overcome the flaw that had crept into his game. On Thursday, he exhibited how to eradicate getting bowled or getting caught leg-before wicket. By the time, Smith crossed fifty he looked unconquerable as he peeled off Plan A, B, C and D with relative ease. With each ball, he looked a class apart from his teammates. There were the occasional play and miss, or an inside edge, but for large proportional of his duration at the crease, he looked like the Smith of old. With each nudge or clip through the leg side, Smith was distancing himself from the nightmare of the ball-tampering saga even further. Importantly, with each run, he was regaining the respect of a nation. The constant booing, the crying masks and all the mocking were transparent. This was Smith, with a willow in hand and scoring runs for Australia. Finally, on the 182nd ball, the comeback was complete as Smith brought up his 24th Test century. There was a smile and an emotional wave of the bat. In the next 37 balls, Smith added another 44 runs to ensure Australia finished the opening day on top. Even as he sprinted off the ground after being dismissed for 144, he was greeted with boos, but Smith won’t mind. Chances are he will probably be in the nets again in space of 24-hours, honing his skills and trying to eradicate any mistakes that we don’t see him make. But that is what makes him the perfectionist.