How English cricket missed out on the chance to bag new Australia captain Steve Smith

Australia’s new captain has an English mother and at one point was in two minds who to play for

(Getty Images)

When Steve Smith walks to the middle to toss a coin as Australia captain for the first time in Brisbane tonight, it will represent the proudest moment of this apparent all-Aussie boy’s career. His elevation may, though, have led to the exchange of one or two rueful glances at the ECB’s Lord’s headquarters this week.

Smith will lead Australia after being named as Michael Clarke’s temporary successor for the remainder of his country’s Test series against India. Wednesday’s match at the Gabba will also be notable for the inclusion of the Marsh brothers, Mitchell and Shaun, the sons of the Aussie Test great, Geoff.

They will become the seventh pair of brothers to play alongside each other for the national team – but it’s Smith’s opening salvo as captain that will come under most scrutiny against an Indian side still smarting from their defeat in the first Test at Adelaide.

For the new skipper, though – and potentially English cricket – things could have turned out very differently.

Smith’s English mother meant the Sydney-born all-rounder was eligible to play for the country of her birth.

Michael Clarke cannot play because of a hamstring injury (Getty Images)

A year spent playing club cricket in 2007 in Kent, during which he was offered a contract by Surrey, served to further muddy the waters.

But Tony Ward – who co-owns a company with Smith’s father and was the best man at the Aussie captain’s parent’s wedding and grew up with his mother – tells The Indepedent that he was under strict instructions to ensure that any approaches were firmly rebuffed.

“I was told to make sure that any contracts offered to him over here were turned down,” he says. “And that was completely right because the resources available to him in Australia and the amount of time and effort put into his development by the Australian system was just incredible. His parents didn’t want him to be completely involved in cricket, they wanted him to have a trade as well.

“But Steve came over to Cheshire in 2007 – I believe it might even have been against his parent’s wishes – but within a few days he was incredibly homesick.

“His mum called me and asked me to see what I could do. He came down to stay with me for the weekend and I told him he had three options – he could go and fulfil his obligations for the season in Cheshire, he could go home, or he could stay with us and, if he wanted to, we could find him some cricket. The rest is history.”

At this point, Sevenoaks Vine – Ward’s local club – entered the story, although with an overseas player already in place, Smith had to start at the bottom and work his way up the ladder.

“We already had an overseas player in place so Steve had to start in the second team,” Gavan Burden, chairman of the Sevenoaks Vine management committee, explained.

“In one of his first matches, the seconds were playing Blackheath and were chasing a total of something like 350 in 55 overs. Steve came in at No 3 and scored 187 and we won with about six or seven overs to spare. That was a pretty decent bid for a first team place, I guess.”

Smith in action against India last week (Getty Images)

Smith ended up playing eight matches for the Kent Premier League side, scoring 309 runs at an average of 44. He also took 11 wickets at 27 with his leg-spin.

Not bad going for a 17-year-old pining for home, and certainly enough to catch the attention of the scouts that his father had so firmly wanted kept at arm’s length.

“Along came the Kent coaches and said, ‘We’ll have him’,” continues Ward. “Then Surrey came along and they were quite aggressive actually. He started playing for their second team and they wanted him to sign a contract.

“He was in a bit of dilemma. He had just turned 18 and he definitely faced a difficult decision. In Australia you don’t really make any money unless you have that Baggy Green, whereas as a county player you can make some reasonable cash.

“He was really in two minds as to whether he should become English or not. In the end it was Australia who took the initiative and gave him a three-year rookie contract.

“Did I try and change his mind? I’m not ashamed to say that it was the complete reverse. I actually had to tell him and give him the confidence to believe he could get the Baggy Green.

“I know I’m the bad guy but that’s the way it was.”

Australia have every reason to be thankful for Ward’s intervention, although Smith’s single-minded attitude suggests that he was always destined to play on the highest stage, whether it was for England or for Australia.

“He wasn’t your average Aussie,” points out Burden. “He was a very shy guy, he was only really interested in playing his cricket and helping out where he could around the club.”

Ward backs up that view. “He was incredibly dedicated, if there was cricket the next day then it was training, food then bed,” he says. “He was focused, and cricket was everything to him.”

That love of the game is reflected in his lightning rise to possibly the most prestigious position in Australian sport, less than five years after making his Test debut against Pakistan at Lords.

With a Test average of 46 and with five hundreds already to his name, he is already assured of a place in Australia’s Ashes party next summer.

Whether he returns to his second home as captain will depend very much, of course, on the health of Clarke’s errant hamstrings.

If his tenure is extended, however, you get the feeling that this half-Englishman won’t think twice about potentially upsetting his mother by bringing the Ashes back home again.