A look at unique records of Australian maestro Steve Smith
Australia's premier batsman Steve Smith staged a remarkable comeback in the ongoing SCG Test, after enduring a lean patch. He slammed a record-equaling 27th Test ton in the first innings and followed it up with a half-century later on. This was his first ton after 14 straight innings, the most between two centuries in his career. We present his unique records in Test cricket.
Smith is arguable the greatest Test batsman in the modern era. His Bradmanesque numbers define his stature in red-ball cricket. At the moment, he owns the best average (62.07) in Test cricket among the active cricketers minimum (20 Tests). In fact, he has the second-highest Test average only after the great Donald Bradman (99.94) on the all-time list.
Even Smith's numbers at home are second to none in modern-day cricket. So far, he has racked up 3,566 runs from 37 Tests, including 14 tons in home conditions. Yet again, his average of 68.57 at home is the second-best after Bradman (98.22), among players with a minimum 3,000 Test runs. Notably, Smith is followed by Indian captain Virat Kohli (68.42) in the list.
As mentioned, Smith slammed his 27th ton in the ongoing SCG Test. He equaled legends Graeme Smith, Virat Kohli and Allan Border on the elite list. He is also the second-fastest to 27 centuries (136 innings). Smith now has the joint-most hundreds in Test cricket among active players along with Kohli. Overall, he has the joint-sixth-most tons (with Border) by an Australian.
With a fifty in the second innings (81), Smith now owns a century and half-century in a Test most times (10) in Test cricket. He surpassed the tally of the great Jacques Kallis (9). Former England captain Alastair Cook has achieved the feat eight times.
So far, Smith has amassed 2,800 runs from 27 Tests at 65.11 against England. He owns the second-most tons (11) against them after Bradman (19). In last year's Ashes, Smith became the first-ever Test batsman to score ten consecutive 50+ scores against a single opponent (England). His scores during the period (2017-2019) read: 239, 76, 102*, 83, 144, 142, 92, 211, 82 and 80.
In 2017, Smith became only the second batsman to score over 1,000 Test runs for four successive years (2014-2017). He achieved the 1,000 run-mark with an average of over 50 in each of these years, becoming the first player do so.
Smith has been unstoppable in the Ashes ever since he registered his maiden ton (2013 Oval Test). He tallied a mammoth 774 runs in the 2019 edition, equaling the long-standing feat of Little Master Sunil Gavaskar (774 vs WI, 1970/71). Interestingly, he owns a unique feat of smashing over 500 runs in three consecutive Ashes series (2015: 508, 2017: 687 and 2019: 774).
