Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are being sent home from South Africa after being named on March 28 as the players in the Australian cricket team involved with the ball tampering scandal.

Smith, 28, lost his captaincy of the team and will learn about his Australian cricket future within the next 24 hours.

In the wake of the unprecedented saga, he also stood down as captain of the Rajasthan Royals for the 2018 IPL season.

Who is Steve Smith?

Steven Peter Devereux Smith was born on June 2, 1989 in Sydney, New South Wales.

A right hander, he made his Test debut for Australia in 2010 as a leg-spinner but as of March 2018 was the top-ranked Test batsman in the world according to ICC player rankings.

In December 2017 he reached a Test batting rating of 947, the second highest of all time only behind Sir Donald Bradman’s 961.

He has played in 64 Test matches and 108 ODI series games.

Mr Smith is also known as ‘Smudge.’ In an interview, Smith said that former Australian cricketer Mike Hussey gave him that nickname.

Steve Smith bats during day four of the third Test match between Australia and Pakistan in 2017. Photo: Getty

Cricket career

Early days

Smith dropped out of studies at Menai High School in Sydney at the age of 17 dropped out to pursue his cricket career in England.

In 2008, he made his first-class debut for NSW against Western Australia at the SCG, scoring 33 runs.

The same year, he was the leading wicket taker at the 2008 KFC Big Bash tournament, finishing with nine wickets.

In 2009 Smith was part of the New South Wales Blues team that won the Twenty20 Champions League in Hyderabad, India. He took two wickets and hit 33 runs.

By 2010 Smith had a first-class batting average of over 50 after 13 first-class matches. He was highly praised by then-Test bowler Shane Warne, who became his mentor.

“I think he has got that X-Factor about him,” said Mr Warne, reported The Telegraph. 

“He could be something pretty special.”

In the same year, Smith played as a leg spinner in a Twenty20 international match against Pakistan in Melbourne.

Batting down the order, he made his Test debut at Lords, England, in July 2010. He didn’t bowl in the first innings but took 3/51 in the second as Australia cruised to victory.

Becoming a batsman

Recalled to the national side, Smith toured India with the Test team in 2013 and played in the 2014 Zimbabawe Tri-Series.

He made his maiden Test century at The Oval in the first innings of the final test of the 2013-14 Ashes series, scoring 138 not out.

Smith was named the vice-captain of the Australian cricket team and became the side’s 45th captain when Michael Clarke retired in 2014.

During his career Smith has led the team against New Zealand in a three Test home series, played in the 2016 Twenty20 World Cup and toured Sri Lanka, South Africa and India.

In the 2017-2018 Ashes series, Smith reached the milestone of 6000 Test runs in 111 innings. He is the youngest Australian to do this.

He is also the second and only batsman after Bradman to score four consecutive Test centuries in four matches at the MCG.

Awards

Smith has won numerous awards including:

• Sir Garfield Sobers Trophy (2015)
• Australian One-Day International Player of the Year (2015)
• ICC Test Player of the Year (2015 and 2017)
• Allan Border Medal (2015 and 2018)
• Australian Test Player of the Year (2015 and 2018)

Steve Smith wins the Allan Border Medal in 2015. Photo: Getty

Personal life

In 2011 Smith commerce and law student Dani Willis at a bar during the first season of the Big Bash League, in the summer of 2011-12.

In June 2017, he proposed to Willis atop the Rockefeller Centre during a New York holiday.

“She’s always there for me when I’m around,” he told Fairfax Media. “She always gives me good advice, and tells me the truth.”

In 2017, Smith also released an autobiography called The Journey.