Steve Smith leaves his mark on the grandest Test stage of them all

There are only a handful of things that are certain in life – some of you might have heard the old adage, quipping that death and taxes are part of that exclusive group.

Extend that metaphor to cricket, and you would find it hard to make many additions, for cricket remains a game of glorious uncertainties, and the moment you think you have something figured out, the sport levels it up.

But there are elements rooted in the certainty that make the game what it is – spin in India, bounce in Australia, sharp movement in South Africa, swing in New Zealand, a bit of everything in England, and Steve Smith scoring runs.

Okay, this might seem a bit of a hyperbole but Smith, more often than not, feels inevitable. The ball might be turning square, and he would be finding a way to graft. It might be swinging around corners, and he would still shuffle across, get into quirky positions and manage to stay at the crease.

All of that, unsurprisingly, has now led to an average above 60, which in the modern era, is just ridiculous. He also has 31 Test tons – the latest of those crafted meticulously at The Oval – to save Australia from crumbling in the first innings of the World Test Championship final – and to possibly cement his legacy as one of the greatest ever to have played this format.

Smith complied a wonderful ton in the WTC final

This ton was not amply different from what the middle-order batter has done all these years. He assessed the conditions pretty quickly and realized that the pitch was not conducive enough to allow carefree stroke play. So, the former Australia captain set out doing what he does best – bat for a long time.

That monk-like patience and perseverance bore fruit early on Day 2 when Mohammed Siraj dished out two half-volleys to allow Smith to get to his landmark. Those strokes, though, were only possible because of the work he had put in earlier.

They might have seemed hard yards to those on the outside. To Smith, it was just another day at the office. For context, he now has three centuries at The Oval alone and averages more than 100 in his last nine Test innings in England, having scored more than 1000 runs in that period.

While he prefers batting in England, as his record suggests, he is not averse to batting in any and every condition. He has played in 10 different countries and has tons in seven of those. The only nations where he is yet to breach the three-figure mark are Bangladesh, Pakistan, and the UAE – he has not played more than four innings in any of those places, though.

The opposition does not seem to matter either. Apart from Bangladesh, he has a Test century against every opposition he has faced. Against England and India, considered two of the most difficult challenges any Australian batter can encounter, he has 20 hundreds (11 versus England and the rest against India).

And at The Oval, Smith illustrated that he does not fret too much about the occasion as well. If anything, he seemed to thrive. The more pressure there was, the more determined Smith was to buckle down, stay in his own bubble and disrupt India’s attempt to make inroads.

All of this is not new. This is what Smith is all about. This is what he has always been about.

What this WTC final did, though, is that it gave the greatest Test batter of this generation a shot at etching himself into eternal cricketing folklore on the grandest Test stage of them all.

Much of Smith’s cricket has taken place where the WTC model was nonexistent, and when the final came around the first time, he was at home, cooling his heels, chomping at the bit, and wondering when his opportunity would arrive.

It did on Wednesday and then on Thursday, and he was up to it. He left his mark in his inimitable style and whenever the WTC will be chronicled, his name will be front and center.

There is still a lot of cricket to be played between now and day five, and it remains unclear if Smith will end up on the winning side. What is certain, though, is that he will, irrespective of the conditions, the opposition, and the occasion, keep scoring runs.

For years, the adage that death and taxes are the only certainties in life has rung true. Smith scoring runs for fun in Test cricket may just be squeezing itself into that conversation now. Provided that has not happened already.