Why Smith could be set for his best Test summer yet

Presuming the sore left hip Steve Smith is sporting from a massaging mishap remains only a minor irritant, the star batter believes Wednesday’s NRMA Insurance series opener against West Indies in Perth could signal the beginning of his best ever Test summer.

In the city where his unique method was first conceived close to a decade ago, Steve Smith will this week unveil the latest iteration of an ever-changing batting technique for the first time in Test cricket in a shift he hopes will help him recapture the kind of stratospheric run-scoring output that has been lacking over recent home seasons.

The genesis of Smith's unique back-and-across trigger movement across his stumps came in Perth in late 2013 when he trialled the method to counter an onslaught of short-pitched England bowling.

It unlocked a style that would torment bowlers and put him on the path to laying claim as Test cricket's best batter since Sir Donald Bradman.

Yet Smith, coming off his three leanest home Test campaigns since that breakthrough hundred at the WACA Ground, has reverted to a more orthodox approach in a bid to recapture what he views as the high watermark of his batting prowess – the 2014-15 season that followed.

"Where I've got to right now is the ultimate for me," the 33-year-old told reporters at the WACA on Sunday.

If that wasn’t enough warning for the Windies, Test cricket's eighth-ranked side, then Greg Chappell's prediction that a "mountain of runs" awaits Smith after a successful launch of his new technique in the recent Dettol ODI series against England would have been.

Their best hopes in the two-Test series, and those of South Africa for the three Tests that follow, of stopping Smith may well be Smith himself.

In an accident Smith described as "silly … me just being me", he hurt his hip on a massage device designed to release muscle tightness in the psoas muscle over the weekend.

"I was hitting myself in the psoas trying to loosen that up and I got a little low and I hit a little nerve or something," he said, before adding: "It'll be fine."

While Smith has been far from a passenger in the Test side in recent times, his return of just a solitary century in his last 14 home Tests has been short of both his own and the public's high expectations of him.

Endless net sessions and constant tinkering with how his feet, hands and torso can better move together have allowed cricket's ultimate problem solver to find a solution.

Smith admits his idiosyncratic style had mutated to the point that he was getting too front-on to the bowler, while he had a growing sense all the moving parts of his body were not in sync with one another.

Hitting through the off-side and off the front foot had become difficult, while he also felt as though he could not hit his pull shot with the kind of power he used to.

"I've just been racking my brain to see how I can get better," said Smith.

"I always look at 2014-15, that series against India and that (ODI) World Cup period where I felt as though I was batting the best I have and trying to replicate that with my hands and feet.

"It feels as though it has all come together and hopefully it's a perfect storm this summer.

"Whilst I try to replicate and get my technique to a point where I was in '14 and '15, hopefully it can be better than that.

"That was obviously a pretty prolific summer for me. But if I can top that it would be great."

Smith sent Chappell a text after reading – and largely agreeing with – his column that ran in Nine newspapers this weekend with interest.

The ex-Test captain from the 1970s and '80s tipped a return to form for Smith after observing the changes he made during the ODIs against England earlier this month.

One aspect of Chappell's analysis Smith continues to bristle though at is the suggestion the Jofra Archer bouncer that felled him at Lord's has been a turning point in his career, with his reduced output of runs neatly coinciding with the end of that 2019 Ashes tour he dominated.

Given how New Zealand successfully curtailed him with bouncers during the last Perth Stadium Test in 2019, a tactic the Alzarri Joseph-led Windies attack appears certain to try at some point next week, playing the short ball is a key consideration for Smith.

Yet he feels as though his latest technical alteration will allow him to score even more freely through the leg-side than he did during that 2019 Ashes series.

"If you see the pull shots that I played, only being able to help them on their way behind square, whereas using power in front of square is something that I’ve probably done a bit better (at other times during) my career," said Smith.

"When I hit that first pull shot in Adelaide (in the ODIs) through mid-wicket it was kind of like, ‘wow, I’ve actually got my bottom hand back’.

"That was what I was after.

"Being in that position where I’m more side-on with short stuff, I feel like I was able to get out of the way of one that (Olly) Stone bowled as well really easily.

"It just gets me into a much better position to either play the pull shot or get out of the way of the ball and it’s felt really comfortable."

Men's NRMA Insurance Test Series v West Indies

Nov 30 – Dec 4: First Test, Perth Stadium, 1:20pm AEDT

Dec 8-12: Second Test, Adelaide Oval, 3pm AEDT (day-night)

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cameron Green, Marcus Harris, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, David Warner

West Indies squad: Kraigg Brathwaite (c), Jermaine Blackwood, Nkrumah Bonner, Shamarh Brooks, Tagenarine Chanderpaul, Roston Chase, Joshua Da Silva, Jason Holder, Alzarri Joseph, Kyle Mayers, Anderson Phillip, Raymon Reifer, Kemar Roach, Jayden Seales, Devon Thomas

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