Batting, leg-spin, off-spin - Steve Smith proves he's quite good at cricket in Sheffield Shield

Former Australia captain Steve Smith just had a memorable Ashes in England – his first Test series since returning from the year-long ban after the Sandpapergate scandal. The middle-order batsman slammed 774 runs in four matches at an average of 110 plus as Australia retained the urn and returned undefeated from England after 18 years.

He had a rare failure with the bat on Thursday when he fell for a duck in a Sheffield Shield game against Queensland in Brisbane but the experts said it only proved that Smith is also a human being. But there was something else in the Sheffield Shield game that Smith made a name over this time. With the ball, the 30-year-old bowled both off and leg spinners in an over to put the batsman in a zone of discomfort.

Smith takes a leaf out of Ashwin’s book

For many, Smith took a leaf out of the book of ace Indian off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin. The latter is known for mixing his deliveries too often after getting dropped from the limited-over formats. Ashwin started adding more variation to his arsenal to gain an edge and implemented his newly acquired skills in competitions like the Indian Premier League (IPL) and Tamil Nadu Premier League (TNPL).

Smith was alongside Ashwin in the now-defunct IPL franchise Rising Pune Supergiant (RPS) in the 2017 edition. Though the off-spinner did not play in the tournament because of an injury but Smith, who was the captain of the RPS that year, certainly benefited from some bowling tips. He was seen producing both forms of spin after his New South Wales captain Peter Nevil asked him to bowl to give some breakthrough in the Sheffield Shield game.

When Smith’s national side colleague Marnus Labuschagne was batting, Smith bowled his usual leg-spin but then started bowling off-spin when left-hand batsman Matt Renshaw came on strike. Though Smith did not take any wicket, he put some check on the opponents’ scoring.

Smith hit a double hundred in the recent Ashes – his third against England in the long format – besides two tons in one Test and a couple of 90s and 80s.