"You wouldn't coach a young player to hold a bat like he does with such a strong bottom hand or move around quite as much, but when his bat comes down in contact with the ball it is the full face and his hand-eye coordination is just phenomenal."
Sunday 17 December 2017 07:13, UK
Steve Smith punished England again with a sublime unbeaten 229 in Perth. Nasser Hussain says the Australia captain's hunger and hand-eye coordination make him the best player in the world on flat pitches.
Steve Smith's sparkling form will see him compared to great players from past eras. I'm not one for that but one thing is clear: right now, he and Virat Kohli are at the very top of their games.
Every time you turned on your telly in the India versus Sri Lanka series Kohli was getting hundreds or double hundreds and it feels like Smith is doing the same in this Ashes series against England. Things are not supposed to be that easy and all you can do is admire their hunger.
Smith, in particular, seems a very driven young man and someone who will not settle - he won't be going to bed tonight content with 229, he'll be thinking about breaking records and winning this Test match. You admire his skill but more so his appetite.
There's no doubt he is vulnerable, like many players are, when the ball moves around - if you look at the last tour of England, he got his runs on two very good pitches at Lord's and the Oval and when it moved around at Trent Bridge and Edgbaston, his top score was eight.
He also looked a bit vulnerable under lights at Adelaide - but when there is no movement, I don't think there is a better player in the world.
England have tried everything - bowling straight, outside off stump, round the wicket, trying bouncing him out and boring him out but Smith has shown no signs of weakness on this pitch. He is just too good.
You wouldn't coach a young player to hold a bat like he does with such a strong bottom hand or move around quite as much, but when his bat comes down in contact with the ball it is the full face and his hand-eye coordination is just phenomenal.
Smith is set up for back-of-a-length bowling - his hands are high so he can punch through the covers or work or pull the ball through the leg-side.
That's not to say he hasn't changed anything - when he first came in seven years ago and people were saying 'what have Australia picked him for?' he had to adjust by moving further across off stump - but he has generally stuck with what works for him, which is key.
Mitch Marsh was also in the runs, hitting his first Test century, and I was struck with how composed he was. He was batting with one of the greatest batsmen of this era but did not falter in comparison.
Marsh struck the ball hard and nicely in the V and he also stayed calm after reaching his hundred. He could have gone into one-day mode but he continued on his merry way and looked technically solid, albeit on a very, very flat pitch.
As Marsh came in as a slightly left-field selection, you also have to give credit to the selectors. They have had a good series, with picks that were questioned - the Marshes, Tim Paine, Cameron Bancroft - all impressing at various points.
England are now in a tough position. You cannot question their commitment but we're having the same conversations we have in every away Ashes series about where our express pace bowlers are.
Our "English" bowlers are world beaters at home - these lads, backed up by Moeen Ali, will be very good next summer - and will win you Tests. They did that against South Africa and Windies this year.
But we have lost six Test matches on the bounce away from home, four in India and now two in Australia, and that could soon be seven. England need to start looking at their plan B on the road.
That's not just an English problem, though - Australia only drew in Bangladesh this year and have lost in India and Sri Lanka recently as well, while when they came to England in 2015 all these guys with hard hands looked very vulnerable against the moving ball.
On this deck, though, Australia are dominating and you would imagine they will go hard in the morning and look to get their lead up, perhaps even to 300. Then England will be looking to save the game and hopefully win the last two Tests and retain the Ashes!
That will be England's talk and it is a flat pitch but it will be hard with scoreboard pressure, the Ashes on the line and different types of bowlers to contend with.
Australia have taller, quicker, hit-the-deck seamers, while Nathan Lyon gets more dip than Ali, the ball he dismissed Dawid Malan with in the first innings was evidence of that.
I'll end with a man who has epitomised England's fight, Craig Overton. He has shown a lot of bottle in his Test career so far and is now bowling, diving around in the field and trying to run people out with a cracked rib. There are rumours that he gets very cross when he is out, too, so the passion is there.
He has also showed that English-style bowlers can get some joy in Australia - I think he has bowled a better length than the other seamers, that in-between area. Woakes, for example, has bowled either too short or too full.
Overton has something about him and has done very well, but that can't mask the fact England are lacking pace.
