Steve Smith’s reprisal of his trademark shuffle will be the enduring memory of his 33rd Test hundred. But the lingering question for the reinvigorated 35-year-old remains how many more steps forward he has left in him.

Smith nearly swung himself off his feet after working Akash Deep off his hip for a single to reach triple figures in Tests for the first time in 18 months. His roundhouse mini-leap was followed by a piercing nod to his teammates as if to say, ‘I’m not done yet’. 

It was not quite the emotion that erupted out of him when he brought up his previous ton at the Gabba, his unbeaten 141 in the 2017-18 Ashes series opener. But it appeared there was more to his celebration – even if Smith shrugged off such a suggestion.

“Was it?” he said with a smile when that was put to him. “I don’t know. I’m not sure.”

What Smith does know is thriving in what he describes as the toughest conditions of his Test career is not beyond him

Cricket’s greatest problem solver worked as hard for this century, his first since celebrating his 35th birthday in June, as any.

Seeking to arrest a slide that had seen him average under 30 from 23 innings, encompassing a move up to the opening spot and then back down to No.4 again, the right-hander reverted to the back-and-across shift he had ditched for the Adelaide Test.

In the Gabba nets less than 48 hours out from the start of this third Test against India, Smith was reviewing footage of himself batting to coach Andrew McDonald’s throwdowns recorded on assistant coach Andre Borovec’s phone.

In focus after his leg-side tickle in Adelaide meant he arrived in Brisbane fresh off scores of 0, 17 and 2 has been the size of his step in front of his stumps and the position of his left leg at the release of the ball. 

In the heat of the match, Smith admitted he commenced his innings moving further across than intended. After riding some early luck, he found a sweet spot.  

“I’ve changed my set-up pretty much every game I’ve played for the last 15 years,” Smith told reporters at stumps after Australia reached 7-405 at stumps on day two. 

“It’s nothing new to me. I try and adapt, and figure the best way to play for the surface that I’m facing. 

“Clearly this one is a pretty bouncy track, so I was batting out of my crease a little bit, trying to get at the bowler, go across my stumps but leaving my left leg a bit open. 

“So perhaps when I’ve been doing my double trigger (movement), I’ve been getting my left leg too closed. Those balls that are skidding, I’ve struggled to get my bat down in time. 

“I thought my movements were pretty good today – maybe a little bit bigger than I would have liked early on. But I felt like I was moving into the ball nicely. I had a bit of lucky early on which I think you need on these surfaces to score big runs.”

Above all, Smith’s insistence he still enjoys the cut and thrust of self-improvement bodes well for the twilight of his career.

For now, this latest hand stands more as an outlier than necessarily a restoration of the golden years of his career. Even Smith himself may concede the level he ascended to during that 2014-2019 run may now be beyond him. 

It is not to say Smith, who earlier this week dropped out of the ICC’s top-10 ranked Test batters for the first time in a decade, cannot remain a valuable contributor to this ageing Australian side.

Smith’s exit to Jasprit Bumrah for 101 during Sunday’s final session saw him get to within 195 of 10,000 Test runs. Only three Australians – Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting – have passed that magical mark. 

The varying returns of that trio after the age of 35 could be instructive for how the final years of Smith’s own career may pan out. 

Border averaged 42.63 after turning 35, down on his career mark of 50.56, though standout innings of 110 against a formidable West Indies attack in Melbourne in 1992-93 and his unbeaten 200 to clinch the 1993 Ashes at Headingley showed he was far from a spent force.

Ponting’s post-35th-birthday returns are more of a cautionary tale. He made two double-centuries but his average from 53 innings was 37.19, well down on the 55.46 mark he managed before that. He played on until he was 38, but later admitted he should have retired three or four years prior.

Few in Test history fared better in their advancing years than Waugh, who scored 10 of his 32 Test hundreds after turning 35 (a feat bettered only by four batters), averaged 52.30 (up on his career mark of 51.06) and captained Australia to nine out of 12 Test series victories, losing only one.

For Waugh, and maybe for Smith too, the wisdom gleaned from more than 100 Tests played is the advantage that can cancel out father-time. The latter’s reputation as cricket’s ultimate problem solver will become more important than ever.

“I’ve played long enough to know that the game turns on itself,” said Smith. 

“If you go through periods where you’re not having much luck – last week I felt a bit unlucky getting strangled down the leg-side – you’ve got to keep the faith and know that things will turn around if you keep doing the hard work. 

“I’ve been putting the hard work in, so I rode my luck today – I had a bit early on for sure. Got beaten a few times which is going to happen on that wicket. On another day I might nick one of those. 

“But I was playing the line nicely, I was getting in good positions, I left well early, so I felt like I was playing well. It was nice to get some reward.

“If I want to change a few things, it really doesn’t take me long – sometimes I do it in the middle of an innings. 

“I think that’s part of adapting to situations and scenarios that are put in front of you and having the confidence to do it. I’ve played for a long time and I know what I’m trying to do out there – most of the time.”

When he was dismissed on Sunday, Smith swore in frustration as he got to the boundary near the applauding crowd before putting his helmet down lightly to dry out in the Queensland sun. There was still more to be done, he felt, and left some runs out there.

Whether Smith follows the lows of Ponting or the highs of Waugh in his advancing years, it is certain his appetite for runs will not diminish. 

NRMA Insurance Men’s Test Series v India

First Test: India won by 295 runs

Second Test: Australia won by 10 wickets

Third Test: December 14-18: The Gabba, Brisbane, 11.20am AEDT

Fourth Test: December 26-30: MCG, Melbourne, 10.30am AEDT

Fifth Test: January 3-7: SCG, Sydney, 10.30am AEDT

Australia squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey (wk), Brendan Doggett, Josh Hazlewood, Travis Head, Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Mitch Marsh, Nathan McSweeney, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

India squad: Rohit Sharma (c), Jasprit Bumrah (vc), Yashasvi Jaiswal, KL Rahul, Abhimanyu Easwaran, Devdutt Padikkal, Shubman Gill, Virat Kohli, Rishabh Pant, Sarfaraz Khan, Dhruv Jurel, Ravichandran Ashwin, Ravindra Jadeja, Mohammed Siraj, Akash Deep, Prasidh Krishna, Harshit Rana, Nitish Kumar Reddy, Washington Sundar. Reserves: Mukesh Kumar, Navdeep Saini, Khaleel Ahmed, Yash Dayal