Steve Smith has reached another landmark in his extraordinary career, moving on to his 32nd Test century at Lord’s the day after reaching 9000 runs in the five-day game.
Smith, starting off unbeaten on 85 after looking in complete control on the opening day, went patiently to his latest three-figure masterpiece on Thursday morning at the home of cricket.
The Sydneysider had a scare when beaten by Stuart Broad on 99 but he reached his ton soon after with a glorious cover drive off James Anderson and was given a warm embrace from his batting partner, captain Pat Cummins.
The milestone ton, coming a decade since his first down the road at The Oval, brought the 34-year-old level with Steve Waugh in the list of Australian centurions, with only another former captain Ricky Ponting ahead of them on 41.
Smith and Waugh are now joint-11th in the all-time list of Test centurions, headed by Sachin Tendulkar, the only man to have scored more than a half-century of centuries.
Soon after, Smith (3174) also went to fourth on the all-time runs list in Ashes cricket, overtaking Waugh’s 3173.
LIST OF THE MOST PROLIFIC CENTURY MAKERS IN TESTS
Sachin Tendulkar (Ind, 1989-2013) 51
Jacques Kallis (SA, 1995-2013) 45
Ricky Ponting (Aus, 1995-2012) 41
Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, 2000-2015) 38
Rahul Dravid (Ind, 1996-2012) 36
Younis Khan (Pak, 2000-2017) 34
Sunil Gavaskar (Ind, 1971-1987) 34
Brian Lara (WI, 1990-2006) 34
Mahela Jayawardene (SL, 1997-2014) 34
Alastair Cook (Eng, 2006-2018) 33
Steve Waugh (Aus, 1985-2004) 32
Steve Smith (Aus, 2010-current) 32
