Steve Smith Lights Up the BBL — Plus a Major New Co-Host Announcement

·51 min·5 clips

It was the best night of Big Bash cricket at the SCG ever—Warner and Smith both hit centuries.

Cricket Unfiltered starts with Steve Smith belting a massive six, and the hosts compare it with other big hits at the ground, including ones from Aaron O'Brien and Steve Waugh. From there, the discussion moves into the Gabba carry-on, where Smith's complaints about the sight screens, and fans waving from above them, become a bigger story than the shot itself. The crew frames it as something that started at the SCG and the Sydney Test before rolling into Brisbane, where Smith seemed to get more and more irate. The Sixers also needed to win their next game to get through to the finals, and they ended up beating the Heat at home, which means Smith got one over his mates Marnus and Usman Khawaja. The hosts joke about how different the reaction would be if Smith were out there for Australia instead of the Sixers, and keep stressing that the real focus should be the ball coming out of the bowler's hand rather than the area above the sight screen. The episode also ends with a lineup change, as Stuart McGill is coming into Cricket Unfiltered moving forward while Damien is not going anywhere. It feels like a bit of cast consolidation, plus a small tweak to the show rather than a full reset.

As heard by us

Smith, crowd heat, and a sharp-edged BBL chat keep this moving.

Steve Smith Lights Up the BBL is a lively piece that keeps its focus on the cricket, not on grand statements about what it all means. It works best when it stays with Smith's big six, the Gabba noise around him, and the small annoyances of sight screens and waving.

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Why you'd press play

For Smith's crowd-war and the teased Stuart McGill cast move.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

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