Steven Peter Devereux Smith (born 2 June 1989) is an Australian cricketer who represents Australia, New South Wales Blues, Sydney Sixers and Rising Pune Supergiant. He is currently the captain of the Australia national cricket team across all the three formats. Although he was initially selected for Australia as an all-rounder who could bowl right-arm leg spin, Smith now plays primarily as a batsman. On 20 March 2017 he reached a Test batting rating of 941, the fifth highest of all time.
As of December 2016, Smith is the top-ranked Test batsman in the world, according to the ICC Player Rankings. Smith was the leading run scorer in 2014–15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India. In 2015, he won the Allan Border Medal for the best player in Australian Cricket. In June 2015, he was moved up to the coveted no. 3 spot in the Test batting order for the series against the West Indies and the 2015 Ashes series, a position previously held by Ricky Ponting. After taking over full-time captaincy of the national team, Smith generally batted at no. 3 until recently, as that position is currently occupied by Usman Khawaja. Though Smith covered for him again in the inaugural day-night Test match in Adelaide, he moved back to the no. 4 spot in the batting order, following Khawaja's return from injury.
On 23 December 2015, Smith was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as Test Cricketer of the Year for the 2014–15 season.
Arriving back from the subcontinent following their 2–0 Test defeat against Pakistan. Smith played 4 ODI out of 5 series against South Africa where Australia defeated South Africa 4–1 in the ODI Series. He missed the first match due to selectors picking Shane Watson over Smith but later joined the remainder of the games due to Michael Clarke's hamstring injury. In his first match in Perth hade registered 10 runs but in the continuing games he made: 73, 104 and 67 runs. Smith scored his first century on Australian soil in the 4th ODI at the MCG. Steve Smith was made man of the series and produced 254 runs, the highest Australian total in the series.
India arrived in Australia to play a tour Test match series and a tri-series ODI competition with England. The ODI Series began after the four Test series, preceding the 2015 Cricket World Cup. The Test series was played first and the first Test match was scheduled on 4 December in Brisbane, but was later postponed because of the death of Phillip Hughes. The first Test was later rescheduled to the Adelaide Oval on 9 December and Brisbane would be hosting the second Test on 17 December. In the first Test match in Adelaide, the Australian players wore Hughes’ Test cap number 408 on their playing shirts for the match as well as black armbands in honour of their former teammate.In the first Test match in Adelaide, Smith scored 162 runs in 298 balls in the first innings and made 53 runs in the second innings, defeating India by 48 runs into day five. This also marked Steve Smith's first Test century against India and at the Adelaide Oval.
On 15 December, Smith was named Australia's new vice-captain and following an injury to Michael Clarke, he was appointed stand-in skipper against India with Brad Haddin as his deputy. He made his captaincy debut for Australia in the Second Test match against India at the Gabba. He continued his batting form and made 133 runs in the first innings before being run-out in the second innings with a score of 28. Steve was made man of the match and Australia were 2–0 in the series, defeating India by 4 wickets. In the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Smith made his third consecutive century in the first innings of the Test match scoring 192 runs in 433 balls. He also scored his 1,000th run in the 2014 calendar year is the eighth fastest Australian to reach 2000 Test runs, beating previous Australian captains such as Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting.
As of December 2016, Smith is the top-ranked Test batsman in the world, according to the ICC Player Rankings. Smith was the leading run scorer in 2014–15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy series against India. In 2015, he won the Allan Border Medal for the best player in Australian Cricket. In June 2015, he was moved up to the coveted no. 3 spot in the Test batting order for the series against the West Indies and the 2015 Ashes series, a position previously held by Ricky Ponting. After taking over full-time captaincy of the national team, Smith generally batted at no. 3 until recently, as that position is currently occupied by Usman Khawaja. Though Smith covered for him again in the inaugural day-night Test match in Adelaide, he moved back to the no. 4 spot in the batting order, following Khawaja's return from injury.
On 23 December 2015, Smith was awarded the Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy for being named the ICC Cricketer of the Year as well as Test Cricketer of the Year for the 2014–15 season.
Arriving back from the subcontinent following their 2–0 Test defeat against Pakistan. Smith played 4 ODI out of 5 series against South Africa where Australia defeated South Africa 4–1 in the ODI Series. He missed the first match due to selectors picking Shane Watson over Smith but later joined the remainder of the games due to Michael Clarke's hamstring injury. In his first match in Perth hade registered 10 runs but in the continuing games he made: 73, 104 and 67 runs. Smith scored his first century on Australian soil in the 4th ODI at the MCG. Steve Smith was made man of the series and produced 254 runs, the highest Australian total in the series.
India arrived in Australia to play a tour Test match series and a tri-series ODI competition with England. The ODI Series began after the four Test series, preceding the 2015 Cricket World Cup. The Test series was played first and the first Test match was scheduled on 4 December in Brisbane, but was later postponed because of the death of Phillip Hughes. The first Test was later rescheduled to the Adelaide Oval on 9 December and Brisbane would be hosting the second Test on 17 December. In the first Test match in Adelaide, the Australian players wore Hughes’ Test cap number 408 on their playing shirts for the match as well as black armbands in honour of their former teammate.In the first Test match in Adelaide, Smith scored 162 runs in 298 balls in the first innings and made 53 runs in the second innings, defeating India by 48 runs into day five. This also marked Steve Smith's first Test century against India and at the Adelaide Oval.
On 15 December, Smith was named Australia's new vice-captain and following an injury to Michael Clarke, he was appointed stand-in skipper against India with Brad Haddin as his deputy. He made his captaincy debut for Australia in the Second Test match against India at the Gabba. He continued his batting form and made 133 runs in the first innings before being run-out in the second innings with a score of 28. Steve was made man of the match and Australia were 2–0 in the series, defeating India by 4 wickets. In the third Test at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, Smith made his third consecutive century in the first innings of the Test match scoring 192 runs in 433 balls. He also scored his 1,000th run in the 2014 calendar year is the eighth fastest Australian to reach 2000 Test runs, beating previous Australian captains such as Michael Clarke and Ricky Ponting.
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