How 'a bit of luck' sparked Smith's second coming

For all the natural talent, mental fortitude and self-belief that has made him one of Test cricket's all-time batting greats, Steve Smith concedes the additional, intangible quality of success is luck.

It was with him at the very start of the two-match campaign against Sri Lanka – which he dominated with twin hundreds and 272 runs at an average of 130 – where he was named player of the series in his team's 2-0 clean sweep.

As Smith mused after today's nine-wicket win at Galle, he might have been fielding an entirely different array of questions had the return chance he drilled at Sri Lanka spinner Prabath Jayasuriya from the third ball he faced in the series been caught.

It's barely a year since ill fortune dogged Smith to the point where some started to question if Australia's most gifted Test player of the current generation had perhaps passed his peak and entered genteel decline.

The low point came in the final Test of a frustrating 2023-24 summer when, in his brief incarnation as an opening batter replacement for David Warner, he dragged on to his stumps the first ball he faced in the second innings against New Zealand at Christchurch.

Smith's disbelief at that dismissal was palpable, and it meant he had completed an entire Test season, which involved Tests against Pakistan, West Indies and NZ, with a solitary score above 50.

An absence of any Test cricket during the intervening winter meant Smith entered the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy Series against India facing rare scrutiny, with another first-ball duck in his opening knock at Perth only increasing the pressure.

But true to his word and in defiance of the sceptics, the tide turned with his breakthrough 101 in the rain-ruined third Test against India at Brisbane which launched the so-called second coming of Smith's batting genius.

Including that innings, Smith has reeled off four centuries from five Test appearances since then, piling on 567 runs at an average of 70.87, the sort of numbers he might only have dreamed of when in his supposed pomp five years ago.

"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," Smith said today.

"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."

Smith was unable to pinpoint a single moment of epiphany when he knew the batting productivity he had exhibited across the preceding decade was once more within his grasp.

There had been moments, such as the unbeaten 91 he posted in carrying his bat as opener in Australia's shock loss to West Indies at the Gabba early last year, where he proved he still had it in him.

But what he needed to find was the more ethereal elements of batting – the 'touch' and 'rhythm' that he knows can only come with time spent batting against top-quality bowling in high-pressure match conditions.

And that's precisely what his Gabba century against an India attack led by the irrepressible Jasprit Bumrah, alongside Mohammed Siraj and spinner Ravindra Jadeja, gave him.

"I just felt like I was batting nicely, and getting some time in the middle maybe," Smith said today when asked if he could identify a 'lightbulb' moment in his dramatic batting turnaround.

"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."

Smith's confidence in his current run of form has seen him introduce shots to his already burgeoning repertoire that he had previously eschewed,

During his 131 in Australia's first innings of the second Test at Galle, Smith unfurled a reverse sweep to the surprise of his batting partner Alex Carey, a renowned devotee of the innovative stroke.

Smith had previously mentioned he wouldn't play a sweep shot of any kind when batting in a Baggy Green Cap rather than a protective helmet, mindful that an errant top edge might inflict more hurt than simply embarrassment.

When he ignored his own device while wearing the flimsy headwear last Friday, Carey wondered if that was a prudent option given the expensive dental work Smith had reportedly undergone.

"Probably not wise to do it without a helmet on," Smith laughed today.

"I just felt it was the right shot at the right time.

"It's obviously not my first option to go that way (but) I thought the field was right, and I thought the rough on the off-side for the off spinner was getting quite thick and there was a bit going on.

"I felt a little bit threatened there, so that was the reason I started sweeping a little bit more.

"I was putting the percentages a bit more in my favour, which is part of batting in these conditions as well."

Smith wouldn't be drawn on whether his latest Test series triumph, during which he overtook former captain Ricky Ponting as Australia's leading Test runs scorer in Asia, would convince him to play on until the team's next assignment on the subcontinent.

That looms as the five-Test Border Gavaskar Trophy series in India early in 2027, a potential carrot for a number of senior players in the current Australia set-up given it's been 21 years since they last landed a Test series win there.

But Smith is less equivocal when asked if the batting struggles faced by his close friend and devoted batting student Marnus Labuschagne in Sri Lanka were cause for concern.

Labuschagne finished the two-match series on a high, scoring the winning run today as he remained unbeaten on 26 but his return of 50 runs at an average of 25 from three innings saw him face similar questions to those posed about Smith a year ago.

"I think he's actually batting quite nicely and there's a difference – I've said this a lot of times about myself – between being out of form and out of runs," Smith said of the parallels between the pair's circumstances.

"We've seen Marnus do it, we know he can do it.

"I don’t think he's out of form personally, I've watched him train and I've watched him play and a lot of the things he's done so well are there.

"A little bit of luck here and there and things can turn around pretty quickly.

"We know what he's capable of.

"He'd love to score more runs, we'd love him to score more runs and in my opinion it's just around the corner."

Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka

First Test: Australia win by an innings and 242 runs

Second Test: Australia win by nine wickets

Sri Lanka Test squad: Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Dimuth Karunaratne, Pathum Nissanka (subject to fitness), Oshada Fernando, Lahiru Udara, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Kusal Mendis, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Sonal Dinusha, Prabath Jayasuriya, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Asitha Fernando, Vishwa Fernando, Lahiru Kumara, Milan Rathnayake

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

First ODI: February 12, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)

Second ODI: February 14, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)