Steve Smith is the best cricketer to have played the game apart from Sir Donald Bradman.
That is the belief of Sutherland treasurer and club historian Tom Iceton after Smith's incredible double century on the second day of the fourth Ashes Test at Old Trafford.
Smith batted for eight and a quarter hours to plunder 211 runs to leave Australia in a dominant position, declaring at 8-497 with England 1-23 in reply.
The innings was the Sutherland batsman's 26th Test century, third double century and sixth Ashes hundred in England - more than any Englishman.
Smith is now the leading run-scorer in Tests this calendar year despite only playing three Tests.
Since Smith's return from a 16-month absence from Test cricket, he has scored 589 runs in this Ashes series at an incredible average of 147.25 including three centuries. England all-rounder Ben Stokes is second on the list but has played seven Test, scoring 513 runs at 57.
Comparing any player to Bradman is usually a foolish endeavour. But, according to Iceton's statistics, Smith is now simply out in a class of his own.
A number of statistics show that while Bradman remains clearly the greatest batsman of all time, Smith is now alone apart from Bradman.
"It's still Bradman first, daylight second in most things," Iceton told the Leader.
"Bradman is always going to clearly be far and above what anyone else will be. But Smithy is now putting himself as the best apart from Bradman, before or after, by quite a clear margin. He's clearly better than anyone else if you leave Bradman out of the equation."
Smith (64.65) has the second highest career batting average behind Bradman (99.94). Smith (111 Tests) is also the second fastest player to reach 6000 Test runs behind Bradman (68).
Bradman (22 innings, 113.66 average) has the highest batting average in first innings in Tests with a minimum of 20 Test innings, with Smith (39, 93.65) in second.
They share similar numbers for their team's first innings, with Bradman averaging 97.85 from 50 innings and Smith 81.54 from 66 innings. Then there is the highest percentage of centuries per innings batted, with Bradman (one every 2.76 innings) just ahead of Smith (4.8).
Iceton believes Smith's enforced 12-month absence from international cricket for his role in the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa could one day be seen as the catalyst for Smith's next surge on his climb to greatness.
Smith spent last season playing NSW Premier Cricket with Sutherland, his boyhood junior club, with Sutherland hopeful they might see Smith stride to the crease for the Sharks again this summer.
"The club is immensely proud of what he's done and we're so pleased for him. Obviously it has been a tough 12 months for him and he never would have voluntarily opted to take 12 months out of international cricket, But we might look back at the end of his career and say it was the best thing that ever happened to him," Iceton said.
"He's come back and looks so refreshed and with a renewed hunger for scoring runs. He's batting better than ever before after being out of the game for more than 12 months. He hadn't played Test cricket for 16 months then comes back and scores 140 in each innings [of the first Test] like he'd never been away. To come back from the uncertainty of his concussion as well and make 211 adds another facet to what a great innings it was. Just incredible.
"It's hard to say [if this was his best innings]. He's played some great innings. This is right up there. Not to take anything away from scoring 211 but he has scored centuries in much tougher batting conditions. It was a good batting deck. He has made centuries is much more difficult circumstances in India and elsewhere. But absolutely, this one is right up there.
"He was fantastic. So relaxed, his initial movement taking a good step back gave him even more time to work out what he wanted to do. Because of his grip he moves back and across and is able to work balls to the leg side in a way that no one has ever really seen. Generally speaking, teams normally set strong off-side fields but for him, and I'm sure that's why he worked out how to do it. With less fielders on the leg-side he gets himself into a great position to work the ball. But then you bowl him a juicy half volley and he'll cream you through cover or down the ground. He's obviously got a very unusual technique but it works very well for him.
"I think also not being captain means he hasn't got anything else to really worry about. Obviously he is contributing thoughts to [Australia captain] Tim Paine but he's not the top dog. The pressure isn't on him like it used to be. Not that it really affected him too much, his record as a captain stacks up only second to Bradman. But coming back without having to worry about the added burdens of captaincy is another reason why he looks to refreshed and hungry to pile on the runs.
"He wouldn't say [he's making up for lost time] but I'm sure there is an element of that. He was getting pretty mentally tired and the captaincy was getting to him a bit. It was a tough series in South Africa which culminated in what happened. They play so much cricket now that it's almost never ending, that only get a small break from one tour to the next. They never get a decent break. The fact he had a 12-month break I just think really refreshed him. He wouldn't have done it optionally, it was forced on him. But I think we'll look back and think while it was unfortunate what happened the result of it has been the way he has come back. It's there for all to see how prolific he has been."
