That the 24 hours before the first Test were entirely focused on Smith was completely of his own making.
Pre-planned and pre-mediated, he stepped into his captain’s news conference – a job he may only fill for a week if Pat Cummins recovers from injury – to give his response to Monty Panesar.
Without being mean to Panesar here, barely anyone had noticed the former England spinner’s comments about how England should make Smith feel “guilty” over his part in the ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal when they were first made a week ago.
Smith, who has been the target of England fans’ taunts since his role in the 2018 ball-tampering incident against South Africa, saw them though.
And on the eve of the Ashes was the moment he snapped as a tit-for-tat spat played out in the media.
A day later, Smith wandered to the middle after just two deliveries, with debutant Jake Weatherald having been floored by Jofra Archer while being dismissed lbw.
He emerged, collar up and with the usual Nadalian twitches in full flow, to the tune of England fans referencing his tears on television when he resigned the captaincy in 2018 (a Panesar update is yet to make its way down under).
Smith produced the most un-Smith of innings. There were 12 plays and misses in 49 balls, including three wild swipes.
Two blows to the elbow, another to the hand. A risky single that would have had Marnus Labuschagne run out with a direct hit.
There were the lurches, waves of the gloves and points of the bat – that will never change – but a false shot percentage of 49% was his personal record high.
Smith’s average for that figure in Australia is 10.9%. His previous high anywhere in the world 29%.
The great Australian, who has scored 10,494 Test runs at an average of 55.81 to sit fourth in his nation’s list of top scorers, was uneasy like never before.
