The no.1-ranked Test batsman Steven Smith has continued his brilliant batting form in the ongoing fourth Test of the Ashes 2019. After completing a brilliant century on the second-day morning session, Smith stretched his innings to the outstanding double century.
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In the ongoing Ashes 2019, Steven Smith is batting outstandingly. The right-handed batsman has already scored 589 runs in this series in just four innings with a whopping average of 147.25. He has scored three centuries (including a double century) and one half-century in this Test series.
In the first Test of this series at Birmingham, Smith scored match-winning 144 and 142 runs. During the second Test at Lord’s, Smith scored 92 runs in Australia’s first innings but missed out the second innings due to the concussion. The concussion forced him to miss out the entire third Test at Leeds.
Now, he is busy in the fourth Test of this series at Old Trafford (Manchester). After Australia decided to bat first, Smith scored 211 runs off 319 balls with 24 fours and two sixes. On the day one of this Test match, Smith became the first batsman in Ashes history to register eight consecutive 50+ scores.
Here are some crucial stats of Steven Smith on day two of this Manchester Test:
i) Playing his 121st Test innings, Steven Smith scored his 26th Test century. It is the second-fastest (according to the number of innings) 26th Test century for a batsman. Only the Australian legend Sir Don Bradman (69 Test innings) is ahead of Smith while the Indian legends Sachin Tendulkar (136 Test innings) and Sunil Gavaskar (144 Test innings) are behind of Smith.
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ii) It was the 11th Test century for Steven Smith against England. Along with the legendary Indian cricketer Sachin Tendulkar, Smith is also standing in the joint fourth position in the most Test centuries list against a single opposition team. Tendulkar scored 11 Test centuries against Australia. The top three positions in this list are legendary Australian batsman Sir Don Bradman (19 Test centuries against England), legendary Indian batsman Sunil Gavaskar (13 Test centuries against West Indies) and legendary English batsman Sir Jack Hobbs (12 Test centuries against Australia).
iii) It was Steven Smith’s third Test double century and all against England in the Ashes series history. With this knock, Smith became the third most double-century scorer in the Ashes history. Only the Australian legend Sir Don Bradman (eight double-centuries) and the English legend Wally Hammond (four double-centuries) hit more double-centuries in Ashes history.
iv) In Ashes 2015 in England, Steven Smith scored 508 runs. Meanwhile, he scored 687 runs during Ashes 2017/18 at home. Now, he has already scored 589 runs in the Ashes 2019 in England. Steven Smith becomes the first player to score 500 or more runs in three consecutive Ashes series.