“I am an Awful Sleeper”: Steve Smith

Australia captain Tim Paine has recently spoken about their Ashes series where they retained the urn on the back of Steve Smith. He scored more than 700 runs despite being out of the game for concussion. However, Smith has long complained of sleeping poorly during a Test match, as his brain goes into visualisation which affects his game.

In the first innings of a Test, Smith averages a huge 93.64 from 39 innings and he has scored 16 of his 26 centuries there. In the second, this becomes to 63.67 from 29 innings with 6 centuries, and then 51.68 from 36 innings with 4 centuries in the third. The fourth was worst, where Smith averages just 30.68 from 21 innings and failed to reach the three figures.

As an example – the day-night Test at Adelaide Oval during The Ashes in late 2017, where England fought back into the game after Steve Smith declined to take the follow-on as captain.

“I had to have a sleeping pill last night. It has been a pretty tough 24 hours if I’m being honest, it’s all part of being captain of your country, you have to make difficult decisions and sometimes you’re going to make the wrong decision,” he said.

Australia players have recalled how drained and washed out Smith was looking after the Perth Test, where the Ashes were retained in December. However, after that, the Newlands scandal happened which left everyone in shock and also ban Smith from International cricket. He has returned in the action earlier this year.

“I am an awful sleeper. In Test matches, I reckon I average 15 to 20 hours throughout the whole five days,” Smith said to Sky Sports before the Edgbaston Test. “It’s all positive stuff – who’s bowling at me, where I am going to hit them, how I’m going to play, where I’m going to look to score. I don’t very often get many of those negative thoughts. When I do, I shut them out pretty quickly.”

However, he has spoken about the different methods he is trying to improve his sleep in a game. He said that he is using a rain sounds app on his phone to quieten his mind. On the other hand, Tim Paine thinks this is Smith’s brain what makes him one of the greatest batsmen in the world.

“That is just how he is, but at the same time I know he’s working with people at Cricket Australia and elsewhere on trying to find a better night’s sleep,” Paine said. “It’s not a great endorsement for his Koala mattress company, but he’s working on trying to get better at that and trying to relax a bit more during games. But he performs in first innings, which all good players want to be able to do when the game’s up for grabs, and big first innings runs more often than not will win you Test matches or certainly put you well in front of the game,” told Paine.

“If you asked him would he rather score his runs in the first or the second innings he’s going to take the first every day of the week and his record is second to none. He’s plugging away at trying to get a better nights’ sleep, but I don’t think it’s an easy fix for someone who’s wired the way Steve is,” he again added.

However, Australia are currently playing Test series against Pakistan where they have won the first one by an innings and 5 runs on the back of David Warner and Marnus Labuschagne’s centuries.