Cricket: From one Smith to another - It's okay

Ben Smith, the red-ball maestro, hasn't really found much love from the white-ball format during the Central Districts Stags' campaign. PHOTO/FILE

What's up with Ben Smith in the Central Districts Stags stable?

No, not the 44-year-old former Stag who arrived in Hawke's Bay from Leceistershire in November to assume the mantle of assistant to CD coach Heinrich Malan but the opening batsman in the playing squad.

The 26-year-old red-ball batting maestro who has had little love from the white-ball format this summer in the domestic arena, where he features prominently as the bloke who runs out snake lollies and drinks at the park.

But who better to comment on what is happening with the younger 12th man model than the older make, who has been there and done it as a swashbuckling batsman for CD from 2000-02.

"He's still a very important member of the squad," says the assistant coach before the William Young-led Stags host the Northern Districts Knights in round seven of the Ford Trophy one-day competition at Pukekura Park, New Plymouth, from 11am today.

The Stags need a miracle to keep their dreams of a consecutive treble title alive.

They sit on the last rung of the List A format after failing to carry through the momentum of a McDonald's Super Smash Twenty20 campaign that saw them do everything as top qualifiers but etch their name on the silverware in the grand final at the same venue where their performance can best be described as a collapse that resembles an unwanted deck chair stashed away in the garage after summer.

Slowly but carefully, Smith echoes the earlier sentiments of Young that the white-ball limited-overs format is a temperamental beast that displays characteristics even foreign to T20.

"Sometimes you need some form going into one-day cricket, which is just sort of missing from Ben, who has been scoring in the four-day game," says Smith of the of the four-day Plunket Shield which has gone into recess after five rounds, with CD in fifth place on 28 points in the six-team major association competition.

The shield campaign resumes on February 25, with CD to face the Auckland Aces at Colin Maiden Park in the Big Smoke.

Smith the player had found some traction with the bat against the Knights in Napier before Christmas.

"You find your form but then there are no more four-day games left because you're straight in T20s so, I think, for him it was just timing," says the mentor.

Smith says regrettably the hit-and-giggle wasn't the Hamilton-born player's strongest suit.

With a spate of injuries to bowlers, he reveals, the coaching stable has had to, more times than not, opt for an extra bowler at the expense of a batsman.

"It's the nature of the beast, unfortunately, which means someone has to miss out," he says, adding the player not having an all-rounder's portfolio made him surplus to requirements.

"But his exclusion from the one-day side is basically down to the make-up of the team."

No doubt, the batsman's confidence has taken a knock, despite attending training.

"He's an intelligent lad, so whether the decision's right or not, he just gets on with it."

Black Caps allrounder Ben Wheeler and Seth Rance will restart after a rained-out affair in Wellington.