Still in the saddle: Steve Smith rides towards his final frontier

August 4, Brisbane. Steve Smith leans back in his chair, links his hands behind his head, and yawns like a bored lion. Nine days out from the first Test against Bangladesh, Smith has only been in the country a week but already he's tired of the build-up. He's really just here for the cricket.

"Can we play tomorrow?" he asks rhetorically. "I'm ready to go!"

Through the floor-to-ceiling windows on level three of Brisbane's National Cricket Centre, he surveys Allan Border Field. The Queensland Bulls are being put through their paces by new head coach James Hopes, Smith's former Australia teammate.

Inside, a piece of memorabilia hangs on the beige wall of this pocket-sized meeting room, depicting Australia's Ashes winning captains. Smith's numbers from the 2017-18 triumph are detailed neatly beside his image: five Tests, three hundreds, average 137.40.

Bradman included, they're the best of the lot.

He looks again through the glass, his mind stretching back 17 years to a sunny winter in this city, when he captained the 2009 cricketing intake of the Australian Institute of Sport. He had just turned 20. The building he is now sitting in was little more than an architect's sketch.

"I was rooming with Tom Cooper," Smith tells cricket.com.au. "James Faulkner was here. Jon Holland, Bob Quiney, Kane Richardson, I think. Tom Triffitt.

"It was a good bunch. At that age, it was good to have three months up here in the gorgeous Brisbane weather … we trained hard, played a lot of games, and had a bit of fun off the field as well."

Smith was only eight months away from making his international debut as a leg-spinning allrounder, though that winter, he went on a tear with the bat. In the space of four weeks, against opponents both domestic and international, he hit three unbeaten hundreds and two fifties at venues around Brisbane.

Scan the team sheets from that 2009 group and most are long retired. Plenty have moved on to second careers. Only Smith and the baby of the squad, Mitchell Marsh, are still playing cricket professionally.

But Smith has always been a little different.

And so here sits the 37-year-old – in a building he pre-dates, with more than 700 matches behind him – feeling giddy as a schoolboy about what lies ahead.

"The series we have coming up," he says, "they're ones you want to be involved in."

* * *

Fast forward to present day, and if it wasn't clear before the two Bangladesh Tests, then Smith's continued importance to this Australian side was underscored across those six August days. One of only two bats to reach 100 runs through the home side's three innings, he steadied an otherwise wobbly order every time he came to the middle.

Amid the first leg of a monumental 12 months – headlined by Test series against South Africa, New Zealand, India, and England – Smith's was a reassuring presence for Australian supporters.

Doubtless the performances were reassuring for him, too. These days, Australia's fourth-highest Test run-scorer hears the ticking clock that counts down his international career.

He knows this is how it works. His formative years with the Australian team were Ricky Ponting's final ones. Even as a fan, he remembers watching the likes of Adam Gilchrist and Glenn McGrath bow out, and the manner of their exits. This year he farewelled Usman Khawaja, and before that, it was David Warner; both peers and fellow prodigies going back two decades at New South Wales.

The shrinking window has made him stop and consider ways to maximise the time he does have left. Because there are still goals he wants to tick off, cricketing ambitions getting him out of bed in the morning. And just like the divided sport he plays, they are competing against one another.

"It's a fine balance," he says, "of different things that I want to achieve."

Smith spent much of the seven weeks between the end of this year's Pakistan Super League and the beginning of Major League Cricket based out of his New York City apartment.

There were countless café coffees, rounds of golf, and gym sessions. Evenings watching the New York Knicks in the NBA playoffs. Days spent running along the West Side Highway that shadows the Hudson River along that western edge of Manhattan.

Other nights he and his wife Dani would order in from Via Carota, their favourite restaurant in the West Village. Some mornings they ventured up to Central Park on their e-bikes, their two dogs in tow.

"It's off-leash before nine," Smith says. "The dogs can roam free, chase the squirrels and enjoy themselves."

In destination at least, it is a unique lifestyle for an Australian cricketer. It is also, Smith insists, strategically beneficial, as he becomes more deliberate with his downtime. A cricket net is catnip for the obsessive right-hander, and at this point in his career, being kept away from such temptations for large swathes of time is part of his master plan.

"If I'm back home and I get bored, I might just have the itch to go and hit some balls," he says. "But at the age I'm at now, I actually feel it helps to put my tools down and stimulate my mind in other ways. It's good to escape it."

Should Smith make it to England next year – the final chapter of this 12-month, up to 21-Test odyssey – the then 38-year-old would be Australia's oldest batter to begin an Ashes tour since Lindsay Hassett, more than 70 years ago. He would also be gunning to become the first player – from either country – to score a Test hundred on five Ashes tours.

Last month he called himself a "series-by-series proposition" in response to an enquiry about what would be his ninth Ashes. Invariably it prompted retirement headlines, and the question will stay out there between now and then, even while that defining Smith combination of enjoyment and drive points to his involvement remaining highly likely.

He can also take heart from modern history, which offers a happy precedent. This century, six batting giants – Shivnarine Chanderpaul, Steve Waugh, Misbah-ul-Haq, Younis Khan, Rahul Dravid and Sachin Tendulkar – all averaged in excess of 45 through 20-plus Tests after turning 37.

He believes it is those factors that explain his statistical drop-off. From 2014-19 he averaged 75 through 50 Tests – one of the more extraordinary batting streaks in history. Since January 2020, that figure reads 46 in 53.

Yet Smith has still been Australia's best-performed batter in that time. And he hasn't felt a slowing of reflexes; nor have his eyes started to betray him.

"If you're averaging 75 now, then you're some player," he says. "Particularly in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa. I think England's a little bit different, with the Dukes ball staying pretty similar.

"But I feel like I'm batting well. I don't feel any different to how I've felt probably the last 10 years, almost."

Achieving that feeling has been more than a trick of the mind. It comes back to how Smith is using his time. The lines between focus and relaxation – between switching on and switching off – have become much more definitive lately. He is hitting "nowhere near" as many balls as he was only a few years ago.

If there is a secret to his sustained success, a single factor he can pinpoint that has made him the legendary batter he is, Smith believes it is "decision making – absolutely".

"Which is why I'm so conscious of my mind being fresh," he says. "I mean technically, it is what it is – I've played similarly for a long time.

"But I think ultimately, players that reach a certain level, what separates them is their decision making, more often than not. Our game is so mental that if your decision making is slightly out as a batter, you make one mistake and quite often you're back in the shed.

"So ensuring that your mental side is where it needs to be, and your decision making is sharp and focused, that makes a big difference in the output that you have."

For Smith, there are obvious benefits to having been in the game so long. Vast experience has allowed him to winnow his preparation. Yesterday's endless volume is today's fine art. That was evident in Brisbane before the Bangladesh series, when he was impatiently declaring his readiness to play after just two net sessions.

"It doesn't take me long to get back in the groove of things now," he says. "I certainly didn't have that when I was younger. I know I can have faith that my technique's in order. I know what I need to do. It's just my mind that needs to be fresh when I go out and play.

"So having those periods of downtime where I don't pick up the tools is really important for me these days to reset, refocus. And then when I get back to batting, I'm excited about it, and keen to get out there and perform."

Then finally, a single concession to age.

"I get fatigued quicker the older I get," he says. "So (it's) just making sure I balance (cricket and downtime) well, so I can keep myself in a zone where I'm able to be mentally switched on for long periods."

It means Smith is isolating these next three major tours in his mind. Breaking them down to a triplicate of hit-and-run missions aimed at achieving all this team has not.

* * *

Smith was 28 the last time Australia played a Test match in South Africa. He missed that heavy defeat in Johannesburg, of course, having already landed back in Sydney with a media throng facing him and without the Test captaincy that had been his for two-and-a-half-years.

The enormous gap between tours across the Indian Ocean – a 2021 tour was cancelled due to COVID-19 – means he is the only one in Australia's batting group to have played multiple Tests in South Africa (Matt Renshaw flew in for that fourth Test in March-April 2018 and scored 13 runs).

Against the Proteas attack in their backyard, Smith's experience will be crucial. He averages above 40 from six Tests in the country and scored an even 100 at first attempt way back in 2014 – an innings he counts among his very best.

A generation on, he and Nathan Lyon are the only players from that match set to go around again. This is a different era, and a different South Africa; less stacked with stars but boosted by last year's World Test Championship final win against a more-fancied Australia.

Smith played six white-ball internationals in South Africa in February-March 2020, but he is aware a return in Baggy Green symbolises something else entirely. This is the land upon which he suffered his great shame, although that experience has, with time, helped him find context in what he does.

So: if he could acquire a time machine and travel back to 21 March 2018, what advice would 37-year-old Smith have for 28-year-old Smith ahead of that fateful Cape Town Test?

"I think just: 'Enjoy yourself'," he says.

He takes a moment to consider the question a little more, then continues talking to his younger self:

"'You're playing for your country. You're doing everything you love, and everything you wanted to do growing up. It's going to be tough sometimes when things aren't going your way, but you know, if you're having a day in the dirt or you're on top, it's the same thing – you're playing for your country, you're having fun. Just enjoy it'."

It might seem trite to suggest Smith is a changed man, but the Cape Town fiasco does appear to have been the catalyst for moving an ingrained win-at-all-costs mentality into something much lighter. It is also reasonable to assume growth from one's late 20s into their late 30s.

"I think now I have a different perspective on the game," he says. "I'm a lot more chilled out, a lot more mellow, not as intense."

He has also been around the block since. Smith copped the caning of a lifetime from the English crowds during the 2019 Ashes and emerged triumphant, scoring 774 runs at 110 for the series. The prospect of South Africans welcoming him similarly does not faze him. Nowadays it seems quite literally all fun and games. Far from being cowed, he is enthused by the hostile atmosphere that awaits him, and the tough cricket the Test champions are set to present.

"I'm pretty relaxed, and actually kind of excited to go back there," he says. "They've got a good team. Good fast bowlers, good spinner – they're well balanced.

"You take last time (2018) out – where I've blocked most of it out of my memory, tried to forget most of it – the series before in (2014) was actually one of my favourite series I've been involved in. Winning in Cape Town (to secure the series) in that last little period – with Ryan Harris on one leg … was a great series, and one I always think back on."

Smith was on his path to superstardom at that point.

An avalanche of runs awaited him.

But so too did controversy.

It has been a long 12-and-a-half years.

* * *

Given he is who he is, it's unsurprising that part of Smith's plan to change pace between Test tours does still involve the sport he loves.

He has made plain the fact that his other goal – and it's another with a ticking clock – is the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. This is the fine balance he speaks of; a necessary blurring of lines through what would otherwise be a cleaner division of his time between Test cricket and zero cricket.

Smith has seven T20 hundreds to his name now and four of those have come since the beginning of last year. He sees himself improving in the format at a time in his career when improvement doesn't necessarily make a lot of sense. He relishes that feeling – that he is still developing as a batter – and it is part of what is driving him toward Los Angeles.

And so it is a juggle of the old with the new; between his desire to keep his mind fresh for Test cricket, and maintaining a newfound sense of rhythm in the short format.

"That's still one of my main goals, to make LA," he says. "I don't want to lose what I've gained recently in T20 cricket. I feel like I was starting to find a really good groove at the back end of the MLC.

"The more I'm playing, I'm starting to get the tempo of the game a bit more, and once I get the tempo of the game, I think I manage situations better."

With Washington Freedom, captain Smith spoke every day – be it on the golf course or the training ground – with head coach Ricky Ponting. When it came to cricket tactics and theories, the pair found themselves nodding along to one another's viewpoints.

"We share so many similar thoughts on the game," Smith says. "We bounce ideas off each other … and we're generally on the same page most of the time."

It is little wonder. Ponting was captain and the dominant force in Australian cricket when Smith broke into the national setup in 2010. The skipper even presented him with his Baggy Green. He was 35 at the time but his powers were on decline; in fact, in Smith's debut, Ponting's average dropped below 55 for the first time in six years, and never scaled such heights again.

The Tasmanian went on for another 24 Tests (averaging 34) and played beyond his best batting years in order to ferry a team in transition. Ponting saw the talent in a group of young batters and wanted to help harness it. Smith was one of those hopefuls.

During the MLC, they talked about all of that in relation to Smith's finish line. Ponting restated his thoughts about playing on too long for what was effectively the bigger picture of Australian cricket. Smith remembered it to be true.

"You had guys like me and Phil Hughes, Davey (Warner) coming through at that stage," he says. "He wanted to help us as we got into international cricket, and he certainly did that."

A generation on, Smith's motivations to continue in the Test side are different but no less team oriented. He sees opportunities in India and England particularly. He has also heard many former players talk about simply knowing when their time is up.

"I'm not at that point just yet," he says, "but that could come at any point – I don't know."

That the feeling hasn't hit him yet is as reassuring as runs themselves. And compared with Ponting, there have been fewer indications of a decline in Smith's powers; since turning 35, he has five hundreds in 16 Tests and is averaging 49.40.

Like Ponting though, he thinks he will stay in the sport ("I mean it's what I know," he says, "it's what I've always done") but for now he quickly dismisses the notion of one day becoming a head coach. At least initially.

"No way," he laughs. "I say that now … maybe … we'll see."

And so, as he looks ahead, the immediate plan is in place – Test series, rest, T20s, rest, rinse, repeat – even as the final destination, and what comes afterward, remain unknown. 

"Just keep playing and enjoying it," he says. "And whatever will be, will be."

Qantas tour of South Africa 2026

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

Warm-up match: October 3-4, JB Marks Oval, Potchefstroom, 6pm AEST (10am local)

First Test: October 9-13, Kingsmead Stadium, Durban, 6:30pm AEDT (9:30am local)

Second Test: October 18-22, St George's Park, Gqeberha, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Third Test: October 27-31, Newlands, Cape Town, 7pm AEDT (10am local)

Australia Test squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Cameron Green, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Michael Neser, Matthew Renshaw, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster