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Smith thrives as captain once again

Right-hander's average as Australian captain close to 100 mark after standout performance in Cardiff

It's fair to say the Australian captaincy sits well with Steven Smith.

The 26-year-old flourished in his brief time with the 'c' next to his name last summer, becoming the only man in history to score a hundred on both his Test and ODI captaincy debuts.

And overnight in Cardiff he fell just 10 runs short of bringing up three figures in his first match as T20 captain as well, just missing out on a record that could well have stood the test of time.

Watch: Highlights of England's narrow win over Australia

Smith was dismissed for 90 from 53 balls in the late stages of Australia's five-run loss to England, his sixth score of fifty or more from nine innings as Australian captain.

The right-hander averages 96 with the bat in six matches as skipper, a tally boosted by scores of 192, 133, 117, 102 not out, 90 and 71.

"It would have been nice to have been 100 not out and win that game but it wasn’t to be," said Smith.

"I was disappointed when I got out. I was trying to get the side home and it didn’t work out today."

Scoring a century on debut as captain is a rare feat in all forms of cricket.

In December, Smith became just the 29th man in history to achieve the feat in Tests when he posted 133 against India at The Gabba. He also became the 21st first man to do so in his first innings as Test captain.

He became just the eighth man to mark his ODI captaincy debut with a century, posting an unbeaten 102 against England in Hobart in January, while he would have been the first player in history to achieve the feat in T20 internationals had he reached three figures overnight.

And while the captaincy sits well with Smith, he confirmed this week that he will relinquish the leadership of the T20 side when regular captain Aaron Finch recovers from injury to lead Australia's preparations for next year's World T20 in India.

STEVE SMITH AS CAPTAIN

  • 2nd Test v India, Gabba: 133 & 28
  • 3rd Test v India, MCG: 192 & 14
  • 4th Test v India, SCG: 117 & 71
  • ODI v England, Hobart: 102*
  • ODI v Ireland, Belfast: 21
  • T20 v England, Cardiff: 90