Guess which bowler from the past Steve Smith wants to face?

Many bowlers of the contemporary era have been driven mad by the task of bowling to Steve Smith. Be it the English ones or Indians, getting Smith out has been a bridge too far on numerous occasions for them. But is there a bowler from the past generation that could have troubled Smith? 

Well, the prolific right-hander may have himself given a clue to answering this question. In a Q&A session with his fans over Instagram, the Australian batsman responded to a fan's query about which bowler from past generations he would like to face. Smith named, not any Australian, but a man who had made a habit of troubling Australia on their home grounds - Sir Curtly Ambrose. 

Arguably, the most famous spell of Ambrose's spell came at Perth where he picked up seven wickets for just one run. In fact, WACA was a ground where Ambrose ruled the roost more than once. Not surprisingly then, that Smith, a great competitor, would have liked to test himself against the West Indian great if it was possible. 

Why Ambrose?

While not as quick as many of his illustrious predecessors, Ambrose's towering height made him an extremely difficult bowler to face on bouncy Australian pitches. On top of that, his unerring line and length turned him into a nightmarish prospect for anyone. 

The fact that Smith has chosen Sir Curtly as the one he would like to measure himself up against may indicate that he thinks the Antiguan legend may be best placed to test his technique. 

Smith, whose trigger movements, back and across in the crease, set him up perfectly for a pull, might have found Ambrose a tough opponent due to the excessive bounce he could generate. On top of that, the stamina that the former West Indies pacer had, along with his consistency, may have made him the best candidate to test the patience of the Australian batsman.

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While playing short deliveries hasn't been much of a problem for Smith in his career, it is worth noting that in the Ashes series last year, Jofra Archer forced him to be retired hurt during the second Test with a bouncer.

In the Australian summer following the English season, Smith ended up getting dismissed repeatedly by the medium pace short deliveries of Neil Wagner. To be fair, some of those dismissals were not so much due to the nastiness of deliveries but Smith's mistakes, still, it did become an irritant. 

So, this is perhaps the reason why the former Aussie captain feels that facing Ambrose would have been interesting. One thing is sure, not too many batsmen who did face Ambrose on the famous WACA pitch would share Smith's desire.

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