World Cup 2015: Steven Smith's Form Won't Last Forever, Says Steve Waugh
Steven Smith has enjoyed a record-breaking season with the bat, scoring four centuries in four Tests against India and also reaching three figures twice in the one-day internationals in the past six months.
- Indo-Asian News Service
- Updated: February 13, 2015 02:42 PM IST
![World Cup 2015: Steven Smith's Form Won't Last Forever, Says Steve Waugh](https://s.ndtvimg.com/images/content/2015/jan/806/smith-ton-england.jpg)
Former captain Steve Waugh has cautioned Australia against expecting Steve Smith's endless summer of run-scoring to continue during the upcoming ICC World Cup.
Smith has enjoyed a record-breaking season with the bat, scoring four centuries in four Tests against India and also reaching three figures twice in the one-day internationals in the past six months.
His man-of-the-series performance against India lifted his Test average for the past 12 months to 86.57, while he's averaged 57.53 since he returned to the ODI side in August. (Australia vs England Preview)
All this despite carrying the added burden of the captaincy for most of the summer - he registered scores of 133, 28, 192, 14, 117, 71 and 102 not out. (Anderson Rules Out Sledging War With Warner)
But Waugh has warned that Smith's incredible form won't last forever.
"He has had an exceptional start and you have to remember that sport is ups and downs," Waugh told News Corp. (Allan Border Tells Australia to Absorb Pressure of Playing at Home)
"You will not always be scoring runs or winning as a captain. We don't want to be too carried away with what he has been doing but he's led with incredible maturity for a young guy."
Waugh said Australia are rightly one of the favourites for the six-week tournament, which gets underway Saturday. (Clarke Feared His Career Was Over)
The two-time World Cup winner said Australia's depth of fast-bowling strike power gives them an edge over other teams in the tournament and could lead them to a record fifth world title.
Australia's 15-man squad includes four frontline quicks - Mitchell Johnson, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Pat Cummins - along with seam bowling allrounders Mitchell Marsh, James Faulkner and Shane Watson.
Waugh said this gives the Aussies a distinct advantage.
"If someone like David Warner hits a purple patch he could win the World Cup by himself," said Waugh. (Bailey Unfazed by Losing Captaincy)
"We have a fantastic stable of bowlers with the amount of quicks around and when you have match-winning bowlers you are going to win a lot of games. We are in pretty good shape. There's no reason why we can't win this World Cup."