Steve Smith struck his 35th Test 100 aft completing 10,000 runs successful the format successful Galle connected Wednesday. (AP)
After starting his innings with a milestone azygous that took him to 10,000 Test runs, Steve Smith registered his 35th Test period for Australia connected time 1 of the archetypal Test against Sri Lanka successful Galle connected Wednesday.
Walking successful astatine fig four, Smith cruised to a breezy period aft putting connected a hefty concern with opener Usman Khawaja. Smith’s 35th Test period successful lone his 205th innings enactment him 3rd connected the all-time charts, lone down Ricky Ponting (195) and Sachin Tendulkar (200) successful presumption of innings.
Overall, Smith is lone the seventh Test batter to scope 35 Test centuries aft Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38), Rahul Dravid (36) and Joe Root (36).
Standing successful arsenic skipper successful spot of the injured Pat Cummins, Smith’s ton was besides his 16th arsenic an Australian captain, surpassing the likes of Steve Waugh and Allan Border’s tally of 15 centuries. Among Australian captains, lone Ponting (19) has struck much centuries. Overall, Smith ranks 4th among Test captains with South Africa’s Graeme Smith (25) and India’s Virat Kohli (20) starring the charts.
Closing successful connected 4000 Test runs arsenic captain, Smith’s mean stands northbound of 68. It is lone bettered by the legendary Don Bradman who averaged implicit 101 among captains who recorded astatine slightest 3000 Test runs.
Earlier successful the day, Smith became the 15th batter to scope the 10,000-run milestone successful Test cricket. Smith is the 4th Aussie batter aft Border, Waugh and Ponting to scope the feat and ranks the fifth-fastest successful presumption of innings, down Tendulkar (195), Brian Lara (195), Sangakkara (195) and Ponting (196).