WTC Final | Steve Smith ready to fire again after three-month break from cricket

‌Steve Smith is back with the Australian side ahead of the World Test Championship 2023-25 final after an extended break of three months following Australia’s semifinal loss to India in the ICC Champions Trophy 2025. Incidentally, that was Smith’s final innings in ODIs as he announced his exit from the 50-over format.

As his teammates continued to be in vogue with the IPL or County cricket or trained with the national side in Brisbane, the middle-order batter decided to spend time in New York returning in time for the marquee contest against South Africa at Lord’s on June 11.

"I'd normally have a bat laying around the house somewhere and just pick it up and do a bit of shadow batting and stuff," Smith said. "But I made a conscious decision to try and just let it go for a while. It was good.

"I hadn't hit a ball since I missed a full toss off Mohammed Shami in the Champions Trophy. Fortunately, everything sort of clicked into place immediately. I feel like I'm moving really well, I feel strong and just ready to get into it now. Hopefully, I can kick off where I left off the last couple of Tests that we played [in Sri Lanka]."

"We're a bit older, we've hit a lot of balls," he said. "It's about having that mental side as switched on as it can be for the big moments. And you don't want to use up all your energy in the nets. There's a fine balance, of course. I'm someone that needs to feel really prepared. 

“And I don't want to leave any stone unturned in my preparation so that when I go to the middle, I'm ready to play. But when you're hitting the ball well, you can sort of do what you want in terms of your preparation in a way. You can just let it be and trust that when you get to the middle, it's all going to be okay."

Smith, by his own lofty standards, has been going through a lean patch after his century at Lord’s against England during the 2023 Ashes series. The 36-year-old did not have a century to his name in 12 Test matches with only four scores of 50 or above till the Brisbane Test against India in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy. But from then on, the former Australian captain has been on a purple patch with four hundreds in five matches, including two in two matches during the Sri Lanka tour.

"I feel like I've been in the team for a while and I haven't felt under a great deal of pressure," he said. "Maybe a little bit after Adelaide last year was the most I've felt. And maybe [that's] why I came out the next game and was really, really hungry to get a good score in Brisbane.”

The Aussie batter has an excellent record in Test matches in England with a tally of 2255 runs, including eight hundreds and nine fifties, at an average of 55.00. He played a crucial role in Australia winning its maiden WTC title in 2023 with a century against India in the final at The Oval.

Smith’s record at the Mecca of Cricket is even better with the average going up to 58.33 in five Test matches with a century against archrivals England, during the Ashes 2023, in his last match at the venue.

"I think it's probably, outside of Sydney, my favourite ground to play at," he said. "The history, the surface itself. It always takes a few balls just to get used to that slope. One end you feel like you're standing really tall, the other end you feel like you're falling over a little bit. But the ball races away, both up the hill and down the hill.

"And then the lunch is fabulous. They always say it's a great place to miss out so you can enjoy your lunch. Fortunately, or unfortunately, the last few years I've done really well there, so I haven't been able to cash in on that,” he quipped.