After a glorious cover drive against England, Steve Smith announced that he was back to his best. He went on to score eighty that day and that knock helped start another purple patch of good scores for Steve Smith. He worked on his technique yet again and is now back with a stronger cover drive, and a steady style which allows him to access the leg-side with the ease that he managed to do so few years ago.

Through his career, Steve Smith went through a lot of modifications with his technique. From shuffling to the off-side to access the leg-side, to standing still, he now has a new method which seems to work for him. With teams exploiting his slight issue with the short-ball, by plugging his strong leg-side, Steve Smith has now gone back to a traditional and steady stance, which is helping him get into a better position against the short ball now.

His improvement has been long coming. Over the last year, Steve Smith had his share of struggles. He had some good scores in the Ashes and later in Australia, but those scores came with a lot of hardwork as Steve Smith failed to play at his usual pace. In the 2019 Ashes, Steve Smith went through one of his best series. Getting hit by an Archer bouncer though resulted in teams going against him with the short ball. Neil Wagner did so while Ravichandran Ashwin set a leg-side trap strangle him with spin later. Smith did come out with runs on both occasions, but a period of twelve months saw some slight truths in his batting get revealed.

Following the 2019 Ashes, Steve Smith’s most dominant innings could well be his efforts in Perth. From Neil Wagner silently finding him out, giving others a path to approach him, Steve Smith has found a way to get back to his best. Through tis period, Smith did have some good scores. He broke an 18-month century drought, with a very good knock in Galle. That knock, after a fair period saw Steve Smith head to his fluent best. The Galle century it turns out helped him turn a corner as he is now back into a purple patch.

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He is now level with Don Bradman at 29 Test Centuries. His trigger point is a touch different now, when compared to an year ago. The changed trigger point and angle in his stance now lets him play straight and go to the off-side while better.

While the West Indies bowling attack is not of the greatest quality at the moment, Steve Smith was at his best. He scored with ease, and is now moving up the ladder again in the run-scoring and centuries charts.