Former Australian skipper Steve Smith made a superb comeback on the field on Friday while representing Toronto Nationals at the Canada Global T20 tournament.
Making his comeback to competitive cricket, Smith smashed a ravishing half-century off just 34 balls against Chris Gayle led Vancouver Knights.
He came in to bat at No. 3 after Nationals lost their opener Nizakat Khan in the very first over while chasing a huge total of 228 runs. Smith joined Johnson Charles in the run chase and exhibited a terrific piece of batting right from the beginning.
The duo stitched a partnership of 53 runs before Charles lost his wicket to Knights’ bowler Saad Bin Zafar during the fifth over.
However, Smith kept the momentum on and continued his fearless batting. Batting alongside Kiwi cricketer Anton Devcich, Smith added 61 runs against his name. After facing 41 deliveries and hitting 8 boundaries and a six in his comeback game, the banned Aussie batsman was dismissed by Fawad Ahmed during the 14th over.
Later, Devcich’s unbeaten knock of 92 runs and skipper Darren Sammy’s 10-ball 22 helped the Nationals to clinch the game by 6 wickets with 4 balls to spare.
After the game, Smith interacted with media personnel and admitted that he was a bit nervous before taking the field. He said,
“I normally don't get real nervous before I play but if I'm being honest I was a little bit nervous today, three months off and I hadn't hit that many balls.”
“I had a bit of luck today, didn't feel as good as I have in the past but it's nice to score runs when you're not feeling good so hopefully there are positive signs,” he added.