Aussie cricket identity outlines why Steve Smith is a superior player to England star Joe Root – ‘a rung below’

Cricket great Darren Lehmann has declared Joe Root is a ‘rung below’ Steve Smith because the decorated English batsman has never scored a Test century on Australian soil.

Lehmann, 54, stated Root – who has plundered more than 12,000 Test runs in his career – is a ‘great player, but not an all-time great.’

‘He’s had four goes playing Ashes [in Australia] and still hasn’t made a hundred,’ the former Aussie coach said when in commentary for the ABC during the first Test against India in Perth.

‘He is a rung below the likes of Steve Smith and [Virat] Kohli because of that reason.’

Lehmann went onto point out the likes of Smith, Kohli and Kiwi Kane Williamson have repeatedly made centuries in different conditions against different nations.

‘Is he [Root] in that upper echelon?,’ he added.

‘He has three, maybe four goes at it…David Warner is the same, he never made a hundred in England.

‘You have to make hundreds all over the world [to be in that elite category].’ 

Smith’s last hundred was in June last year against England at Lord’s, with ‘Smudge’ now going 23 innings without a century (pictured, after he was dismissed for a golden duck on day one of the first Test in Perth)

Lehmann’s view of Joe Root was a source of debate with cricket fans on X (Root is pictured, after scoring 200 against Pakistan in October)

It comes after Smith struggled in the first Test at Optus Stadium, with a golden duck and 17 from his two innings at the crease.

Smith’s last hundred was in June last year against England at Lord’s, with ‘Smudge’ now going 23 innings without a century.

Cricket fans on X also weighed into Lehmann’s opinion about Root.

‘[Joe] is literally carrying a bang average batting line up,’ said one supporter.

‘Joe Root hasn’t gone 500 days with a Test century like Smith or Kohli ? He hasn’t averaged in the 30s for a considerable period. 

‘He’s scored 12000 plus Test runs with 35 centuries. If he surpasses [Indian great] Sachin [Tendulkar] for all time Test runs, will he still behind Kohli & Smith?,’ asked another.

A third weighed in with: ‘Smith is done as a player. Yes he was imperious at one point, but that lasted five years tops. 

‘Kohli I rate highly so I would put him near Root, but Williamson has scored the absolute bulk of his runs at home and against the smaller nations. Root is number one for me.’

Meanwhile, ahead of the second Test in Adelaide which begins on December 6, retired Aussie batsman David Warner offered some sound advice to the struggling top order.

‘They [Usman Khawaja, Nathan McSweeney, Marnus Labuschagne and Smith] need to get together, have a conversation, work out between themselves….what can we do differently? How do we approach it?,’ he said on Fox Cricket.

‘We saw Steve Smith adapting [in the second innings,] not going too far across. 

‘The blowtorch will shine on them if they’re not scoring runs in the next few Test matches.’