BANGALORE: It is an image that you will see more than once in the coming days. Number 414 and 415, the new kids on the baggy-green block, posing for a picture minutes before they made their debut against Pakistan at Lord’s. Tim Paine, then 25 and touted as the long-term replacement for Brad Haddin, is smiling.
The 21-year-old next to him is not. Smile is too mild a word. He has a Cheshire Cat grin. It is the face of a young man living his childhood dream.
That was one of cricket’s summers to forget, with the Pakistani trio of Salman Butt, Mohammad Amir and Mohammad Asif caught in a sting operation that revealed their involvement in spot-fixing. Steve Smith batted at No.8 and No.9 in that “neutral” Test, making 1 and 12. It was his leg-spin, which had prompted his selection, that made the greater impression, with figures of 3 for 51 in Pakistan’s second innings.
It took Smith another three years to establish himself in the side, but his meteoric ascent since was quite unlike anything cricket had seen since the days of Donald Bradman. In 2013, his breakout year, Smith made two hundreds and averaged 37.42. His averages in the next four calendar years were 81.85, 73.7, 71.93 and 76.76. In those 44 Tests, he made 21 centuries.
To put that into perspective, the peerless Bradman made 29 in 52 Tests. Virat Kohli, widely regarded as the world’s best all-format batsman, has 21 from 66 matches. It was not just the runs Smith scored either. It was where he made them — at least a hundred in every country that hosted him, apart from Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates where he has played just two matches apiece.
In India, he made three hundreds in a four-Test series last year, in conditions where many of his illustrious predecessors had struggled. And to those that knew him well, that success was no accident. Smith combined being a cricket tragic with a Trojan approach to preparation. No stone left unturned.
In an interview last year with Fox Sports, Dani Willis, his fiancé, said: “Steve can be sitting at home and there’ll be no one at the cricket ground to feed balls. So, I’ll get the ‘hey, would you like to come and feed some balls?’ He sets everything up (with the bowling machine) and I just load the ball.”
He is also a thoroughly pleasant and soft-spoken young man, with none of the rough edges that have made it hard for the cricket-following public to take some of his teammates to their hearts. But now, because of a moment of utter madness, all those years of toil and building a reputation have been compromised.
It was not just what Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft did that has lanced Australian cricket to its very core. In the larger scheme of things, ball tampering is a misdemeanor rather than a crime. But the fact that they made a ham-handed plan, got caught and then lied about it in full view of the watching cameras has meant that it’s been treated the same way as corporate embezzlement or worse.
Cricket Australia’s inquiry clearly states that Warner — whose boorish conduct over the past half-decade has done little to win the team friends — was the instigator. It does not explain why Smith, who has now led the side for three years, chose to go along with the most dim-witted of plans.
Maybe the fear of sanctions stopped him coming clean to the umpires, but once multiple screen grabs had established in high definition what had transpired, it was bizarre that he chose to lie to the world at the press conference after the day’s play. Anyone with half-decent eyesight could see that Bancroft was holding a small square of sandpaper and not a strip of tape as was claimed. Why make matters worse with another untruth?
Cricket Australia and the team management deserve to be excoriated too for their part in this fiasco. A year ago, when Smith was caught on camera looking up at the dressing room in Bangalore for review advice, the board accepted his unsatisfactory “brain fade” explanation without so much as a proper inquiry. On that occasion, James Sutherland, the chief executive, mouthed empty platitudes about Smith’s “integrity.”
Look where that got us. By promoting a culture where players were not accountable for either their actions or their often-dismal on-field behavior, Cricket Australia sowed the seeds for this debacle. In an emotional column for PlayersVoice, Michael Hussey — one of the most admired of those to don the baggy green in recent years — wrote: “This current squad will one day be retired. And they will be confronted by the same question we all were at the end of our playing careers: Did we leave the team in a better place than we inherited it?
“If the answer is yes, it was a good career. If the answer is no, it wasn’t. It’s that simple.”
Right now, Smith, despite his tremendous batting feats, is on the wrong side of the ledger.
Steve Smith, the once golden boy of Australian cricket, faces fight of his career to restore his reputation
Steve Smith, the once golden boy of Australian cricket, faces fight of his career to restore his reputation
Freddy Schott wins maiden title after 3-way Bahrain Championship playoff
- The German beat Calum Hill and Patrick Reed after they all finished on 17-under after 72 holes
BAHRAIN: Freddy Schott won his first DP World Tour title after beating Calum Hill and Patrick Reed in a playoff at the 2026 Bapco Energies Bahrain Championship on Sunday.
The trio were locked together at 17-under par after 72 holes. This was after Reed shot 67 on Sunday to make up a four-shot overnight deficit to Hill, who began day two clear but had to settle for a 71 after a bogey. Schott carded 69 to join the pair.
Reed bogeyed the first playoff hole to drop out of contention and after Hill went out of bounds second time round, before sending his fourth shot into the water, he sportingly conceded without making Schott putt for the win.
Schott, who was presented with the trophy by Bahrain’s Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al-Khalifa, said: “I have no idea. It’s just amazing, I’m just extremely happy, surprised ... I don’t know what’s happening right now. I’m just so happy.
“I could have done it the regular way, that would have also been fine. But to do it this way feels even more special so I’m just glad it happened this way.”
Hill, who equaled the course record of 61 in Friday’s second round, added to his two-shot overnight lead with an opening birdie after a superb approach, with Schott responding at the second before both players birdied the next.
The Scot was four clear after another gain at the fifth but bogeyed the sixth while Schott made birdie, cutting the lead to one before drawing level with a birdie at the next.
Schott bogeyed the eighth but led anyway as Hill made a double, and a birdie at the 10th took the German two ahead, only for a double-bogey of his own at the 11th to leave the pair all square again.
“It was tough, especially towards the end,” said Schott.
“The start was okay, because I was playing alright. It had good flow to it. Obviously, nerves kicked in from the back nine onwards. I was happy that I managed it okay, not perfect, but okay, and you guys saw what happened, so I’m very happy now.
Sergio Garcia had joined the leaders by that point after responding to an opening bogey with three birdies in four holes from the third and another three in succession from the ninth, as had Reed after his fifth gain of the day at the 12th.
Daniel Hillier carded six birdies in a blemish-free 66, his second six-under-par round of the week, to set the clubhouse target at 16-under as the leaders still on the course battled for supremacy.
Schott, Hill and Reed all reached 18-under with back-to-back birdies, Reed at the 13th and 14th with his rivals a hole behind.
Garcia’s challenge was left hanging by a thread after a double-bogey at the par-five 14th, as he eventually finished alongside Hillier on 16-under, and Reed dropped a shot at the 16th.
Schott and Hill missed the 17th green to the left before escaping with good chips, but while Hill holed his par putt, Schott made bogey.
Reed set a new clubhouse target of 17-under but when his birdie putt at the last agonizingly stayed up on the short side, Hill had a one-shot lead down the last.
But he sent his approach to the extreme left of the green, leaving a nasty putt up the slope by the side of the green which he was unable to get close. Schott was in similar territory but closer in, allowing him to save par while Hill made bogey to set up the playoff.
Reed found the bunker with his 73rd tee shot and went from there to the edge of another, with Schott and Hill both hitting the fairway and then the heart of the green.
Schott holed for par and despite a superb effort at his up-and-down, Reed was unable to respond and dropped out of contention. Hill held his nerve as he and Schott went back to the tee.
The Scot sent his next tee-shot out of bounds to the left, with Schott only just avoiding the water in response. He sent his approach right of the green but Hill found the water with his fourth and conceded after Schott chipped on.
Hill and Reed shared second with Garcia and Hillier fourth and France’s Ugo Coussaud a shot further back in sixth.
The championship provided invaluable experience for emerging golfers, with local players gaining exposure competing alongside Major champions and multiple DP World Tour winners.
Ahmed Alzayed, Ali Alkowari and Khalifa Almaraisi all teed it up at Royal Golf Club this week, with former Masters champions Garcia and Reed, and three-time Major winner Padraig Harrington.
While the cut proved elusive, the experience of competing at the highest level of professional golf will prove invaluable.
“The competition comes to an end, but it’s not the end for me, I think it’s just the beginning,” said Alkowari.
“I’m happy with the result this year. I played 20 shots better than last year, so there are improvements. Hopefully, if I’m playing next year, it will be even better. Who knows, maybe even making the cut.”
A record crowd of 13,186, a 30 percent increase on last year’s attendance, watched the action across the four days.
