After Waugh left Year 12 he attended his induction day at teachers college and not long into listening to the speech about the career that awaited him and the others in the auditorium, the future Australian cricket skipper picked himself out of his chair, walked out of the hall, returned home and boldly declared he'd become a full-time cricketer.

It caused a bit of a kerfuffle in the Waugh household - very few of the nation's leading cricketers even had contracts back in 1986.

An impressive member of Dominic Thornely's "Baby Blues", Smith felt the same calling while doing bar work. In between pouring beers and listening to grog-fuelled conversations, fulfilling his childhood dream to represent Australia made better sense.

"I didn't like it much," the 19-year-old said. "I just wanted to play cricket at the highest level."

He could afford to be confident about his decision to focus on sport. He'd spent one-on-one time in the nets with Shane Warne to develop his leg spin, England wanted him to declare his allegiance to them by talking about a possible Test cap and he was also setting new run-scoring records for Sutherland's first-grade team.

His decision to sacrifice a minimal wage was rewarded quickly with state selection last summer and, as someone who realises opportunity rarely knocks, he hasn't missed a beat whether it be Sheffield Shield, one-dayers or Twenty20.

"We call Steve 'reckless' … it's a running joke in the team … because he throws himself 100 per cent into everything," Thornely said. "After he took a wicket in our game against New Zealand a tailender came out. I asked Steve if he was going to set him up with a big turning leg break but he said flipper straight away. He bowled the flipper and came within an inch of getting the wicket … he found the batsman's inside edge and it went for a single. Reckless."

Yet Thornely hastened to add that few young cricketers possess the same cricket smarts. It also doesn't surprise him the teenager orders men around as skipper of Sutherland.

"It's an honour for him to be skipper of a first-grade team at such a young age but it's easy to understand why he's been given the position," Thornely said. "He's unorthodox, shows confidence in his own ability and he has a good cricket brain.

"Out of the younger guys, he talks about the game a lot more. He'll tell me his ideas out on the field and he comes up with a good option, the commonsense option. But what I also like is he has an aggressive, attacking approach to it."

The next challenge for the unorthodox batsman and emerging leg spinner will be to try to help guide NSW to a desperately needed Ford Ranger Cup victory over South Australia at the SCG on Tuesday.

"When I look back a few years ago, I didn't think I'd be where I am now," Smith said. "It is an honour, a great privilege. But I'm not getting ahead of myself either. I realise consistency is important … I need to be consistent … and persistence is important as well."

Australian and English authorities had both charted Smith's rise and rise. In 2006 the English invited him to pledge his allegiance to them. While he'd become the first Sutherland player to score 1000 first-grade runs before his 18th birthday, it was his leg spin that caught their attention.

He became England's most-wanted Aussie after taking a Warne-like 6-14 for Surrey Second XI against Kent. However, the promise of the cap bearing the three lions of England was no match for his childhood ambition.

"I qualified for England through my mother," he said. "But ever since my father stuck a cricket bat in my hand when I was four, my dream was to wear that baggy green cap. I learnt a lot about cricket by playing in England in 2006 but to return and get picked for NSW was terrific.

"Some people said England would be an easier way to play Test cricket … but that was not my dream. The dream was to play for Australia."

His manager, Warren Craig - who looked after Glenn McGrath and oversees the career of Phil Jaques - described Smith as a young man "with a level head and willingness to learn".

All well and good. However, that little reckless streak could give him a winning edge.