Whenever a batsman dominates in Test cricket, the inevitable comparisons with Sir Donald Bradman arise. Currently that batsman is Australia's Steve Smith. Bradman is incomparable. Despite Smith's elevated Test average, Bradman still heads him by almost 40. A 40 average is a very solid Test career. There is a certain ruthlessness about Smith's clinical dismantling of a bowling attack that must resemble the way Bradman drove bowlers to distraction. But here again, Bradman has the edge; Smith hasn't scored 300 in a day of Test cricket as the knight did at Headingley in 1930.

However, there is some similarity in the way Smith has driven the English crazy with his run accumulation. English commentator David Lloyd related how he alighted at St John's Wood station for what was the first day's play at Lord's, to a PA announcement; "Anyone who knows how to dismiss Steve Smith please report to the England dressing room."