A Look Into The Numbers: Steve Smith: Is The "Best Since Bradman" On Decline

During the first Test match against New Zealand in Wellington, star Australian batter Steve Smith continued his downward spiral as an opening batsman. He was removed by Matt Henry for 31 in 71 balls during the first Test, and Kiwi captain Tim Southee later dismissed him for a three-ball duck in the second inning. Smith's lean run, which began right at the beginning of the new ICC World Test Championship cycle, has been further enhanced by this.
Smith has scored 12, 11*, 6, 91*, 31, and 0 since the opening, for a total of 151 runs at an average of 37.75 in six innings. Even with such a small sample size, Smith hasn't exactly had his best opening performance.
Regarding his total test results since the beginning of the WTC cycle 2023–25, they have been comparatively lackluster for someone who is widely regarded as the standard by which excellence and consistency in tests are measured. Smith has scored only 718 runs at an average of 37.78 across 22 innings in 11 Tests played under the new cycle, with just one century and four fifties. His highest rating is 110.Usman Khawaja (916 runs in 11 matches at an average of 43.61), Zak Crawley of England (808 runs in nine matches at an average of 47.52), and most recently Yashasvi Jaiswal, the young opening sensation from India (971 runs in eight Tests at an average of 69.35), have all scored more runs than him, even though he is still the fourth-highest run scorer in the current cycle.Smith hasn't been able to sustain most of his excellent starts during this time, frequently faltering in his 30s and 40s or failing to reach a century without reaching a half-century. Additionally, Smith's strike rate over this entire period has been 50.42, which is less than his career strike rate of 53.54. His average has also suffered, dropping from 60.04 to 57.52 shortly after he hit the game-winning century against India in the ICC World Test Championship final.