Century remains elusive for frustrated Smith

Teammates remain in awe of the batter they regard as the greatest of their era, yet Steve Smith's growing frustration at his inability to recapture his very best is apparent even to them.

While an under-the-weather Usman Khawaja was satisfied he was able to push through illness in the Lahore heat to score 91 on Monday, Smith was decidedly less content his innings was cut short on 59 after being trapped lbw by a Naseem Shah in-swinger.

His irritation at having missed a ball he would regularly clip through the on-side, if not for his bat inadvertently making contact with his back pad, was palpable as he watched back the dismissal in disbelief on the Australian team analyst's computer screen on the opening day of the series decider.

As Khawaja noted at his post-match press conference, it is hardly as if the world's third-ranked Test batter has become a liability to an Australian side chasing its first Test series win abroad in six years.

In his past 14 Test innings, Smith is averaging 44.64 and has passed fifty on seven occasions. Over that period, dating back to the start of the 2021 calendar year, only Khawaja (107.83) and Marnus Labuschagne (47.87) have fared better among Australians.

Yet those 14 innings are notable for the absence of a triple-figure score, which were previously coming at a rate of one per 2.3 Tests during a golden six-year stretch between the 2013 and 2019 Ashes tours during which he averaged nearly 70.

Since the 2019 Ashes, Smith's last dominant campaign with the bat, he has scored a solitary hundred (his 131 against India at the SCG in January 2021).

In that time, the two batters ranked above him on the ICC charts –Labuschagne and Joe Root – have managed six and nine tons respectively.

"I'm sure it's frustrating in some respects," said Khawaja after Australia went to stumps at 5-232. "He is, in my opinion, the greatest batsman I've seen in my era – averaging 60 for pretty much his whole Test career.

"It's easy to forget that now ... I'm still in awe of him and how much runs he's scored over a long period of time.

"He's still consistent. It's so funny, when we're talking about Steve Smith not scoring hundreds he seems to be getting 70, 80 every game and doing it very easily, that's just the class that Steve Smith has.

"I'm sure there's a big score, and once he gets a big score there's more big scores.

"The fact he's getting those starts, getting 60s and 70s, he's looking really good with the bat and we're still sort of criticising him and 'What's going on with Steve Smith?' – it's a credit to Steve Smith.

"The fact that he's averaged 60 for such a long time, the odds say he's going to get a big one very soon."

One of the notable aspects of Smith's drop-off from his own lofty standards has been the decline in his scoring rate.

Up until his memorable 2019 Ashes tour, the right-hander’s strike-rate stood at 56.38. Since that series, that figure stands at 42.32, the slowest among any of the leading 29 run-getters in men’s Test cricket over that period.

In Pakistan, Khawaja says sluggish pitches have forced batters to operate at a lower tempo, especially once the ball loses its hardness.

On day one at the Gaddafi Stadium, Smith, who joined Khawaja in the middle at 2-8 in the third over of the match, blazed four boundaries from his first 26 balls. He then found the fence just twice more from his next 143 deliveries.

"You can't force the game out there, you can try and get the fielders in the position you want but once they spread the field out you can only do so much," said Khawaja.

"I thought he (Smith) batted really well today.

"He was stiff, his bat got stuck in his pad. I've been there, it's happened to me a couple of times, it's not fun when it happens.

"It's almost death in slow motion.

"You bowl that ball against Steve Smith and he's hitting it 99 out of a hundred times, or a hundred out of a hundred times."

The series' leading run-scorer, Khawaja continued his mighty form despite battling illness in a 219-ball knock featuring nine boundaries and a six.

"I'm very happy with the way I batted today," said the left-hander who has now made 647 runs at 107.83, including three tons, since returning to the Test side in January. "Felt really in control, took the game on when I needed to and then held back when I didn't.

"I was really feeling it today, I was really struggling all the way, right from the start.

"The heat, I was a little bit sick too.

"I got some medication off the doc in between the breaks, I wasn't feeling well at all.

"It was more of a mind game for me, at some level I was really struggling to be out there and I was telling myself, 'Just keep going, keep going, go as long as you can, keep pushing through'.

"Then to push through for five hours when I felt absolutely horrible during the day, I take more out of that than anything.

"I could easily have just gone harder, played a big shot and got out on 20 or 30 but that wasn't the best thing for the team.

"I felt horrible today so for me it was actually a win getting 90, just on the day of the heat and everything that was going on, I'm actually really happy with it."

Qantas Tour of Pakistan 2022

Pakistan squad: Babar Azam (c), Mohammad Rizwan (vc), Abdullah Shafique, Azhar Ali, Faheem Ashraf, Fawad Alam, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq, Mohammad Wasim Jnr, Naseem Shah, Nauman Ali, Sajid Khan, Saud Shakeel, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Shan Masood, Zahid Mahmood.

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Ashton Agar, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Marsh, Steve Smith (vc), Mitchell Starc, Mark Steketee, Mitchell Swepson, David Warner.

First Test: Match drawn

March 12-16: Match drawn

March 21-25: Third Test, Lahore

Pakistan ODI and T20 squad: Babar Azam (c), Shadab Khan, Abdullah Shafique*, Asif Afridi, Asif Ali, Fakhar Zaman, Haider Ali, Haris Rauf, Hasan Ali, Iftikhar Ahmed, Imam-ul-Haq*, Khushdil Shah, Mohammad Haris, Zahid Mahmood, Mohammad Rizwan, Mohammad Wasim, Saud Shakeel*, Shaheen Afridi, Shahnawaz Dahani, Usman Qadir (*ODIs only)

Australia ODI and T20 squad: Aaron Finch (c), Sean Abbott, Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Nathan Ellis, Cameron Green, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Mitchell Marsh, Ben McDermott, Kane Richardson, Steve Smith, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

March 29: First ODI, Lahore

March 31: Second ODI, Lahore

April 2: Third ODI, Lahore

April 5: Only T20I, Lahore

All matches to be broadcast in Australia on Fox Cricket and Kayo Sports