Smith's fifth Test century a ton of tributes

When Michael Hussey unexpectedly pulled the pin on his international career two years ago, Australian cricket was initially shocked, a little hurt and then deeply introspective.

Following, as it did, closely on the heels of Ricky Ponting’s retirement the Test batting line-up that Hussey had been earmarked to galvanise as captain Michael Clarke oversaw its rebuilding had been suddenly rendered unfamiliar and vulnerable.

Suspicions that Hussey, aged 37 at the time, had quit prematurely were quietly echoed yesterday when he was noticeably absent from his new gig as a Channel Nine commentator because he was at a Sydney University Oval for his first training session as skipper of the local Thunder KFC T20 Big Bash League franchise.

But any accompanying angst was eased by the sight – in between light but lengthy Adelaide showers – of Steve Smith adding another emphatic note to the case file that already has him rated as not only a batsman of Hussey-esque stature but a future captain of his country.

In compiling his highest Test score to date in the most trying of emotional circumstances, Smith confirmed he has the maturity and temperament to withstand the level of competition to which his talent long seemed destined to take him.

Not that it’s been a journey without setbacks.

As fanciful as it now seems, less than two years ago Smith was not deemed good enough to be a member of the Test team of which he is now an integral component.

And that even when he returned to the line-up for Australia’s ill-fated India tour last year, it took him until the final Test of his next series (the Ashes campaign in the UK) to score his first Test century.

The 25-year-old now has five, the biggest being today’s unbeaten 162 he crafted against an Indian attack unable to fathom a way through the unconventional technique that had at one stage threatened to stall his international progress.

Smith’s unusual grip - his bottom hand twists so far around the bat handle its his knuckles rather than his thumb that faces the bowler - means he is often capable of playing shots few other batsmen would attempt.

But it was that willingness to innovate that saw him bring strokes and strategies more usually associated with the white-ball format into the Test arena, as he happily showed today as he lit up the early evening gloom in the chase for quick runs.

With his captain’s approval.

“I probably tried to play too many shots early on (in my Test career) and it probably got me in trouble,” Smith conceded at the end of a day in which he had a vital role in guiding his team to a position of strength at 7-517.

“So that’s the way I wanted to go about my business.

“To try and get my patience right and if I do that, I know I’ll be able to make big runs and today was a good example of that.

“Hopefully it continues.”

That frank assessment was shared by the Australian selectors who withheld Smith’s unique skills from the national ODI team for the best part of 18 months so as to bed down his development as a Test player unhindered.

The fact that since earning an ODI recall against England last summer he has been that team’s second-highest runs scorer – and played six less matches than the most prolific, Aaron Finch, in that time – suggests that ploy has succeeded on both fronts.

However, it is Smith’s presence in the Test arena that is most significant for Australian cricket as it must begin to ponder – whether through age or infirmity - the post-Clarke era.

And despite recent calls for Smith’s productivity over the past year or more in the Baggy Green Cap to be rewarded with a move up the batting order, there is a strong case that his free-scoring capabilities and hard-nosed mentality might make him best suited to his current role of number five.

Which is where Hussey initially made his emphatic arrival as a Test cricketer, albeit with an extra decade on the clock to when his young New South Wales successor got his start in 2010.

Certainly for the time being, Smith claims he is happy to further perfect his game in the middle-order where circumstances dictate whether he needs to shore up if early wickets tumble, or cash in if the runs are already cascading.

“I’m happy at number five at the moment, it’s working well for me,” he said today when asked if he was eyeing a promotion.

“I like batting as high as possible.

“I’ve enjoyed batting at number three and number four in one-day cricket so I’ll just keep batting and if I get a chance to move up the order that would be great as well.”

While casual cricket observers might believe the order in which fellas tumble out of the dressing shed to bat carries about as much real-world science as the Duckworth-Lewis system, those in the inner sanctum maintain a batting line-up is a finely-tuned instrument.

And when Australia has been on-song over recent decades it has not accidentally coincided with the presence of adaptable, dependable number five batsmen.

From Doug Walters to Allan Border, Stephen Waugh to Hussey and – for a significant part of his Test career – Michael Clarke.

But Smith has already slipped into the top 10 of Australia’s all-time leading number five batsmen in terms of runs scored, and his average to date in that role of more than 63 makes him the most successful of all according to that criteria.

Even better than Clarke, whose average as a number five tops 61 and includes his epic, unbeaten 329 in Sydney when the Indians last toured.

Match circumstances in Adelaide mean Smith won’t be granted an opportunity to topple that mark, which remains the highest total plundered by a number five batsman in Test history.

But the patience, shot selection and wisdom he has gained along his journey to Test team regular means there will be more innings like that of today – and better ones, as Smith reveals he is capable – over the years to come.

“I’m not sure I would say that (today) was my best innings,” he said this evening.

“I think my hundred at Centurion against South Africa (earlier this year) in those conditions would probably be my best one so far.

“But every hundred is nice and hopefully I’ve got a few more in me this summer.”