Bad news England: Steve Smith is batting like its 2019 again.
Not just with his insatiable desire for scoring runs, but with the same trigger movements and techniques that drove an entire country mad four years ago.
Already living rent-free in England's heads after averaging 110.54 in the 2019 series, Smith has given his Ashes rivals more reason to panic after his tour-opening century against India at The Oval.
It is not so much the runs Smith scored in the World Test Championship final but the manner in which he batted that will ring the biggest alarm bells for England.
Notably back is the shuffle trigger movement, opening up the legside and putting him in positions to work balls through the legside.
Smith had made a point to do away with that during the last home summer, realising he had become too exaggerated.
In his mind it had began to hurt his batting, limiting his ability to pull in front of square and making him susceptible to the short ball.
But in England this week he has the movement back in moderation, as shown in his chanceless 121 against India.
"I quite like it for English conditions and the way the ball bounces over here," Smith said.
"It obviously worked when I was here last time with the positions I get myself into.
"It doesn't mean I'm going to do it all the time. I may revert back to old styles at certain periods when I feel it's necessary.
"But on this surface, and with the bowlers I was coming up against, I felt that was the right way forward."
The proof is in the pudding for Smith.
He made scores of 30 and three in his first two games of a brief county stint for Sussex last month, before he decided to revert to the style he used in 2019.
Immediately he scored 89 in his final hit out against Glamorgan, before working on the technical changes extensively in an Australian camp at Kent last week.
"It doesn't take long to get back (to that technique)," Smith said.
"It's probably my more natural sort of movement, I suppose.
"I started playing that way in the third game because I wasn't quite happy with the positions I was getting into.
"So it didn't take long. One hit out in the middle and I was fine."
