New Delhi. Australia’s star batsman Steve Smith scored a brilliant century in the first innings in the third Test against South Africa on Thursday and broke many records. Smith, 33, scored 104 runs in 192 balls with the help of 11 fours and two sixes. This is the 30th century of Smith’s career. In this way, he left behind the great Don Bradman in terms of scoring a century in Test cricket.
Don Bradman scored 29 centuries in 80 innings of 52 Test matches. Whereas Smith scored his 30th century in 162nd innings of 92nd. Steve Smith is joint third in the list of most Test hundreds for Australia. Apart from Smith, former opener Matthew Hayden has also scored 30 centuries in Test cricket. Former captain Ricky Ponting (41) and Steve Waugh (32) are ahead of Smith in this list.
beat clark
During this, Steve Smith broke the record of former veteran captain Michael Clarke in terms of scoring the most Test runs for Australia. Smith has now become Australia’s fourth highest scorer in Test history. The names of most Test runs (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927) are recorded for Australia.
Steve Smith failed to convert his century into a big innings. Keshav Maharaj took his catch on his own ball. Smith took Australia to a strong score by sharing a 209-run partnership for the third wicket with Usman Khawaja. Till the time of writing the news, Australia had lost four wickets for 475 runs in 131 overs.
Tendulkar at the forefront here
Steve Smith is second only to the great Sachin Tendulkar in terms of scoring the fastest 30 centuries in Test cricket. Tendulkar scored 30 centuries in 159 innings while Smith reached the mark in 162 innings.
Fastest batsman to score 30 centuries (in terms of innings)
- 159 – Sachin Tendulkar (India)
- 162 – Steve Smith (Aus)
- 167 – Matthew Hayden (Aus)
- 170 – Ricky Ponting (Aus)
- 174 – Sunil Gavaskar (India)
- 180 – Younis Khan (Pakistan)
- 186 – Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka)
- 200 – Jacques Kallis (South Africa)