As a rookie, Josh Norman learned Steve Smith 'will take your heart away'

Washington Redskins corner Josh Norman learned what he needed to know about Steve Smith Sr. in their two seasons together. Norman was a young corner, trying to win a job. Smith was a veteran, one who always wanted to prove himself.

So they battled in practice.

"Lion against lion, dog against a dog, beast against beast," Norman said of those times. "His will imposed upon mine, mine imposed upon his. Trying to see who gets the best of each other that day. Always trying to steal your food and take your dog kind of matchup. It was fun, and it was definitely challenging."

That's why there won't be any surprises for Norman on Sunday when he faces Smith, his former teammate in Carolina and now a Baltimore Ravens receiver. Norman, 28, has spent the past two games shadowing the opposition's best receiver, so there's a good chance he'll do so for a third game.

Not that Smith, 37, feels that's necessary.

"I don't know why he'd match up with me, old-ass receiver," he joked in a conference call.

But Norman said he learned while facing Smith in practice in 2012-13 how much Smith liked to get in cornerbacks' heads.

"That's his game, man," Norman said. "He plays that game better than anybody. It's like a defensive foe playing offense. That's what he is. He will take you out of your game mentally, physically and he'll let you know about it after the fact. That's what he does. That's my type of guy. That's when the game becomes fun. Love it."

They did play some against one another in 2014 when Norman was still with Carolina. But the practices stood out to Norman more than the game.

And Norman said he learned how to compete even harder.

"We had tussles here and there," he said. "It was expected. But that guy will take your heart away if you allow him to. He will be hunting to get one over you, and if he does, he's going to let you know about it. For me, I just have to be smart and keen and cunning and play the game."

Norman has grown since he was Smith's teammate, developing into an All-Pro corner last season and the highest-paid player at his position, thanks to his new contract with Washington in April.

But Smith, who said he views Norman as a little brother, knows why that happened. Smith said there would be times in Carolina when he'd go into the receivers' meeting room, only to see Norman in there watching film. The defensive backs' room was too crowded, and Norman wanted to watch film somewhere. For Smith, though, the point was this: Norman was doing his work.

"He wasn't a Pro Bowler when he first came in," Smith said. "He was a guy, like every other young guy, trying to figure out which way is up. He's developed into the player that he is."

But what Smith isn't worried about is all the attention Norman now receives. He said the Norman shown on television isn't the Norman that he knows.

Then again, it's not as if Smith pays much attention to it, showing how they're at two different stages of life.

"I have a 2-year-old, so I’m not watching TV like that," Smith said. "Josh Norman doesn't take over my television more than 'Bubble Guppies' and 'Dora the Explorer.'"

Panthers at Ravens Observations: Former Panthers WR Steve Smith make rounds

Observations from Thursday night’s NFL exhibition game between the Carolina Panthers and the Baltimore Ravens in Baltimore.

Observations from Thursday night’s Carolina Panthers game at Baltimore against the Ravens:

▪  Former Panthers receiver Steve Smith made the rounds before the game talking to his former teammates and coaches. Smith, who’s on the preseason physically unable to perform list, hugged dozens of Panthers players and shook hands and talked with quarterback Cam Newton briefly. One person he did not greet was general manager Dave Gettleman, who released Smith in 2014. Smith has since said he was “stabbed in the back” by Gettleman.

▪  Seven Panthers did not dress in uniform the game. Cornerback Leonard Johnson (Achilles), safety Dean Marlowe (hamstring), fullback Devon Johnson (back), linebacker Ben Jacobs (ankle), defensive end Larry Webster (hamstring), defensive end Rakim Cox (back) and tight end Ed Dickson (groin). Center Ryan Kalil warmed up in uniform and then wore street clothes on the sideline during the game as Gino Gradkowski got the start. Running back Jonathan Stewart didn’t play either.

▪  Brandon Wegher had a tough series late in the second quarter. He lost a yard on his first carry, bobbled and dropped a pass on second down and then was taken down for no gain on the third down play.

▪  The Ravens didn’t play Joe Flacco, but Ryan Mallett looked like him for at least one series. Mallett went 6-for-6 for 49 yards on a touchdown drive early in the second quarter against what was mostly the second-team Carolina defense.

▪  Philly Brown nearly had a 33-yard catch inside the 10 before it was called back in the second quarter. Kevin Norwood was flagged for offensive pass interference when he appeared to be pushed into a Ravens defensive back that held up the defense.

▪  Mario Addison made a short Swayze Waters’ punt even shorter late in the second quarter. He interfered with the returner on a 38-yard punt, and the 15-yard penalty put the ball at the Panthers’ 30 with less than 2 minutes to go. The Ravens scored shortly after.

Read more here: http://www.charlotteobserver.com/sports/nfl/carolina-panthers/article95223162.html#storylink=cpy

Australia need work on lot of areas, says captain Steve Smith

Mitchell Marsh's bowling and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade's lower middle order batting powered Australia to a 58-run win against hosts West Indies.

Australia, the world’s top-ranked one-day-international side, need to work on a number of aspects to improve ahead of next year’s Champions Trophy, captain Steve Smith said after they won a triangular series win in the West Indies.

All-rounder Mitchell Marsh’s bowling and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade’s lower middle order batting powered Australia to a 58-run win against hosts West Indies in the final of the tournament, which also included South Africa.

“I was pleased with the way we scrapped today,” Smith told reporters after the victory in Barbados. “I am using that word a lot.
But that’s been bit of a theme in this series with the kind of wickets we have been playing on.

“I am pleased we were able to get the job done.”

The Champions Trophy, featuring the top eight teams in the world, will be held next June in England and Wales where Australia have been grouped with the hosts, New Zealand and Bangladesh.

In Sunday’s final, West Indies made a brisk start in their chase of 271 with a 49-run opening stand between Johnson Charles and Andre Fletcher before Australia wrested back control and Smith said his bowlers need to start better with the new ball.

“We have to continue to start well with the ball,” the 27-year-old said. “In the last probably three of four series we have been up against some pretty dynamic opening batters. They have got the better of us at the start.

“We have been lucky enough to pull it back in the middle overs and bowl pretty well at the death. We will make things a lot easier for ourselves if we start really well, hit good areas and execute our plans.”

Smith was confident that Australia’s young team will only get better as they play more together.

“We still got a lot of areas to work on … our fielding still needs a lot of work. We need to have the energy we had today in every game,” he said.

“Hopefully as this group continues to play more together we will continue to learn each other’s games and continue to gel well as a team.”

Tri-series: Steve Smith names twelve-man group for Australia’s first game

AUSTRALIA’S glut of quality top-order batsmen has cost George Bailey dearly, with the 33-year-old left out of the XI against the West Indies.

Australia’s glut of quality top-order batsmen has cost Bailey his spot, with all three of David Warner, Aaron Finch and Usman Khawaja selected, with captain Steve Smith to bat at No.4.

Faulkner’s omission has allowed Australia to pick an extra specialist bowler, with Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland and Nathan Lyon all selected in a 12-man outfit. Glenn Maxwell and Mitchell Marsh have also been selected, with the playing XI yet to be named.

Smith has called on his batsmen to be smart instead of spectacular in their ODI tri-series opener.

Australia’s streak of six straight ODI series wins, which included the 2015 World Cup, ended earlier this year in New Zealand.

The lessons learned from that 2-1 series loss are at the forefront of skipper Smith’s mind in Guyana.

“It was a disappointing series. I don’t think we played our best cricket,” Smith told AAP.

“We let ourselves down in the batting department, particularly in the middle overs.

“It’s something that we need to be better at over here … it’s about being smart.”

The venue’s spin-friendly reputation was enhanced in the first match of the tournament, when the hosts defeated South Africa by four wickets, and as such both Zampa and Lyon are expected to play.

Mystery spinner Sunil Narine claimed career-best figures of 6-27, while tweakers were responsible for all six wickets to fall in West Indies’ innings.

“Spin is going to play a big part for both South Africa and West Indies in this series, if we play their spinners well it will go a long way to winning games,” Smith said.

Australia has struggled to score freely against spinners on slow-and-low pitches in recent years.

Narine, who returned during the Indian Premier League after being banned because of an illegal action, is the man most capable of denying Australia victory.

The 28-year-old boasts all manner of variations, most notably his knuckle balls and sliders.

“He’s a quality bowler with a different set of skills compared to most people around the world,” Smith said.

“It’s going to take a bit of adapting to that.

“Most of our batsmen have played against him in the past. You know what to expect, you’ve just got to play each ball on its merits.”

A hamstring injury forced Finch to miss Australia’s trip across the Tasman in February, when Usman Khawaja impressed in his absence.

Khawaja, who was Australia’s leading run-scorer at the recent World Twenty20 and opened throughout that tournament, will bat at first drop but could be shuffled up the order later this month.

“It’s not necessarily set for the series but that’s what we’re starting with,” Smith said of the opening combo.

Faulkner, Bailey, Nathan Coulter-Nile, and Travis Head are the members of the 16-man touring party who missed the cut for the first match.

Australia XII: David Warner, Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Steve Smith (capt), Glenn Maxwell, Mitch Marsh, Matthew Wade, Mitchell Starc, Adam Zampa, Josh Hazlewood, Scott Boland, Nathan Lyon (12th man yet to be named).

Five Cricketers of the Year: Steve Smith - exclusive extract from Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2016

The Five Cricketers of the Year represent a tradition that dates back in Wisden to 1889, making this the oldest individual award in cricket. The Five are picked by the editor, and the selection is based, primarily but not exclusively, on the players’ influence on the previous English season. No one can be chosen more than once.

Oh, how they laughed. When Steve Smith first appeared in an Ashes series, in 2010-11, he told the press it was his job to “be fun”. The media’s mirth was merely heightened when he proved neither technically nor mentally ready, in a series England won 3–1.

Smith disappeared from the Test side, but re-emerged two years later as a cricketer who had embraced his strengths and shaved off some rough edges. His evolution into a high-class batsman coincided with the last days of a dramatic era in Australian cricket. Smith found himself moving up the order – not only of batsmen, but of leaders. And, by the time he arrived in England last summer, he was anything but a laughing matter.

The 2015 Ashes twice showed Smith at his very best, as he followed a coruscating double-century at Lord’s with a match-shaping 143 at The Oval. It also revealed how reliant on him Australia had become: when, in between, he failed twice at both Edgbaston and Trent Bridge, the team failed with him. He ended the series nursing plenty of pain, but with more runs (508) than anyone on either side, and cradling a fresh commission as Australia’s Test captain.

Smith plays a glorious square drive during his 215 at Lord's against England CREDIT:ACTION IMAGES

STEVEN PETER DEVEREUX SMITH was born on June 2, 1989, in Sydney, the son of Peter and Gillian. He grew up in the south-west of the city, first playing cricket at the age of five, when he was the youngest member of his Under-8 team. His heroes were Mark Waugh and Michael Slater, who inspired him to adopt the brand of aggressive, fleet-footed batting that would later become a trademark. To Smith’s young eyes, Waugh “made everything look so easy”.

Peter, a biochemist, worked from home, affording him extra time to help his son’s game develop. “That was handy,” says Steve. “Pretty much every day after school he used to take me up to the nets and bowl at me. Each year he’d go over the crease a little bit further. So he’d bowl a no-ball by about a foot when I was 12, and then when I was 14 he was probably two foot over the line. That helped with my hand–eye co-ordination, and with facing faster bowling. I reckon the last time he bowled to me, when I was 15 or 16, he was about two metres over.”

Like Michael Clarke, Smith was playing grade cricket at 16, and handed his baggy blue New South Wales cap at 18. He had already learned to hold his own. When an older opponent spent hours sledging him, Smith eventually asked: “Mate, how old are you?” Thirty, came the reply. “And you’re still in second grade?” From then on Smith batted in relative peace.

Smith found the perfect ally in Chris Rogers during the second Test and the pair were unbeaten on day one and eventually put on 284 for the second wicket CREDIT: REX

His mother is from Kent, and Smith was always attracted to the idea of summers on the other side of the world. An NSW Under-19 tour gave him an early sight of the English game, and in 2007 he returned for a stint of club cricket that evolved into a few appearances for Kent and Surrey Second XIs, and a tantalising county contract offer. But he was never in any doubt about his allegiance.

Smith earned a Test debut, aged 21, against Pakistan in England in 2010, as a leg-spinning all-rounder at No8. He knows now he wasn’t ready, but he learned plenty. Older and wiser, he returned to England in 2013, initially as vice-captain of the Australia A side that was shadowing the Champions Trophy team in the last, fretful days of Mickey Arthur’s coaching tenure. A hundred on a seaming pitch in Belfast earned Smith the final place in the Ashes squad, in a selection meeting that occurred minutes before Arthur’s sacking. Against England his fortunes oscillated, but he reached his first Test hundred with a clumping six off Jonathan Trott at The Oval.

Smith hit his maiden Test century at the Oval in 2013 and raised it by smashing Jonathan Trott for six CREDIT: GETTY

Of batting in England, he says: “It’s about playing the ball late, and making sure you’re not out in front of yourself. In Australia you can play out in front a little bit more because the ball doesn’t do quite as much. When you’re under pressure and your heart’s pumping, you almost go back to what you know. So it’s making sure you stay in the bubble of the way you want to play, and not revert to the way of playing in Australia.”

Smith arrived last summer as the world’s top-ranked batsman, having recently been promoted to No3 in the order. He squandered a pair of starts at Cardiff, but then found a willing ally at Lord’s in Chris Rogers, who provided a sturdy counterpoint to the swash in Smith’s buckle. Their first-day partnership dictated the course of a match he will always remember fondly. “We played extremely well,” says Smith. “It was a place I’d never had much success, so I was pretty keen to turn that around. To get my name up on the board with 215 is pretty special.”

Originally picked as a leg-spinning all-rounder in 2010-11, Smith picked up his sole wicket of the 2015 Ashes by dismissing Alastair Cook at the Oval CREDIT: ACTION IMAGES

But heavy defeats on seaming pitches in Birmingham and Nottingham gave Smith a sobering reminder that he was not as in control of his game as he thought. With the Ashes gone, it would have been easy to coast through the final Test at The Oval. But he was desperate to learn from his mistakes. “There were a few things I was doing with my technique that had crept in. My prelim movement was going a little bit too far, which squared me up a couple of times, so I played at balls I probably didn’t have to play at.”

Smith’s century helped set up an innings win to give Clarke and Rogers a suitably triumphant farewell, and offered a glimpse of what might be achieved when he next returns to England as an Ashes tourist.

The Wisden Cricketers' Almanack 2016, edited by Lawrence Booth, is published by Bloomsbury (£50). To order your copy for £39.99 with free p&p call 0844 871 1514 or visit books.telegraph.co.uk

OLB Terrell Suggs and WR Steve Smith should be ready by 2016 regular season

Two of the Baltimore Ravens main leaders on its roster in outside linebacker Terrell Suggs and wide receiver Steve Smith both went down with unfortunate injuries to start the 2015 season. Suggs tore his Achilles in week 1 against the Denver Broncos and Smith tore his Achilles in week 8 against the San Diego Chargers.

Both of their seasons came to end immediately, but both players are in the middle of their own respective rehabs to get ready for the 2016 season. Ravens general manager Ozzie Newsome noted that he has recently spoke to Suggs and that Suggs is doing well as he discussed via BaltimoreRavens.com.

[Suggs is] progressing well," Newsome noted. "I spoke with Dr. Anderson, because he's on one of the medical committees, and he had just saw Steve Smith, and he said he was doing very well also. And I fully anticipate that by the time we play our first game - first regular-season game - that they'll both be ready to go."

Suggs, 33, will be entering his 14th NFL season (All with the Ravens) and will look to continue to add to his career sack total which is 106.5, a franchise record. Suggs certainly wasn't going to retire due to his season ending injury last season so he clearly has a chip on his shoulder for this upcoming season.

Smith, 36, will be entering his 16th NFL season (Third season with the Ravens) and will be looking for one goal that has escaped him his entire career: A Super Bowl ring. Smith is also in the final year of the three year contract he signed with the Ravens during the 2014 offseason and his teammates will look to send him out on top.

India will be tough to beat in World T20, Steve Smith says

Sydney: Australia skipper Steve Smith is determined to secure the one major international cricket trophy his country has never won but thinks India are going to be tough to beat when they host the World Twenty20 next month.

The Australia squad, world champions in 50-over cricket and No. 1 in the Test world rankings, flew to South Africa on Sunday morning to prepare for the March 8-April 3 tournament.

Their best result in the five previous versions came when they reached the 2010 final, however, a 3-0 drubbing by India in a recent Twenty20 series has given them plenty of food for thought.

“On any given day in T20 cricket any side can be dangerous, an individual can take a game away from you,” Smith told reporters at Sydney airport.

“[But] I think India in Indian conditions are going to be very tough to beat. They’re a very good side as we saw out here in the three Twenty20s we played in Australia so I think they’re going to be right up there.”

No Australian cricket captain goes into a tournament or series believing victory is impossible, though, and Smith is no exception.

“It’s one that’s eluded us, the T20 World Cup, and it would be great to win that trophy, that’s our goal,” Smith added.

“It’s going to be a tough tour in India, in conditions that are foreign to us. But it’s really exciting and I think we’ve got the squad to give that tournament a real shake.”

Deprived of the advantage that their pace bowling brings them on home soil, Australia will look more to the batting line-up to make the difference in India — even if Smith is not yet sure how it will look.

“I’m not really sure of the make-up of our top three or four yet, obviously, there’s a lot guys who that fill those position,” Smith said.

“We’ve got three games to have a look at that before the World Cup. We’ve got some very destructive and talented batters up the top of the order that we can choose from.”

Smith said all four injury concerns — Aaron Finch, Shane Watson, James Faulkner and Nathan Coulter-Nile — were “tracking well” and should be in contention to feature in the three matches in South Africa.

Australia get their World T20 campaign under way against New Zealand in Dharamsala on March 18.