Steve Smith

Rockstar batsman Steve Smith is a crickter and former Australian national captain. Due to his notably high Test batting average, Smith has been compared to Don Bradman, who is widely regarded as the greatest batsman of all time. His personal accolades include The Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (ICC Cricketer of the Year) in 2015; ICC Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2017; ICC Men’s Test Player of the Decade for 2011–2020; the Allan Border Medal for the best player in Australian Cricket in 2015, 2018, and 2021; and Australian Test Player of the Year in 2015 and 2018. In the 2016 Wisden Almanack, he was named one of Wisden’s Cricketers of the Year. Smith, along with Joe Root, Kane Williamson, and Virat Kohli, was named one of the young Fab Four of Test cricket by New Zealand batsman Martin Crowe in 2014.

Smith began his career as a right-arm leg spinner for Australia, but he eventually became predominantly a batter. He was recalled to the Australian side in 2013, and took over the captaincy from Michael Clarke in late 2015, following which he mostly batted at number three or four. Smith had the second-highest Test batting rating of all time in December 2017, only behind Don Bradman.

Smith was chastised for orchestrating ball tampering in March 2018, prompting him to resign as captain. He was banned from both international and domestic cricket in Australia for one year, beginning in March 2018, and from consideration for any leadership post for another year, following an investigation by Cricket Australia. In August 2021, Smith was named in Australia’s squad for the ICC Men’s T20 World Cup. He played a floating position to help Australia to victory, scoring 69 runs at a strike rate of 97.18.