Steve Smith scores his 34th Test century
Sutherland District Cricket Club | December 27, 2024
Steve Smith scored his 34th Test century today at the MCG. He is now level on 34 with Sunil Gavaskar, Mahela Jayawardene, Brian Lara and Younis Khan and behind only Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41), Kumar Sangakkara (38), Rahul Dravid (36) and Joe Root (36).
It was scored in his 201st innings. The only players to score their 34th Test century in less innings were Sachin Tendulkar (192 inns) and Ricky Ponting (194 inns).
It was Steve’s 24th century scored when Australia bats first in Test matches (in 67 innings). The players with the next most centuries scored in innings #1 of Test matches are Ricky Ponting (21 in 92 inns), Jacques Kallis (20 in 80 inns) and Sachin Tendulkar (20 in 91 inns).
The highest percentage of centuries scored In innings #1 of Test matches to innings batted (min 8 centuries) is 40.91% by Don Bradman (9 centuries in 22 inns), followed by Steve Smith with 35.82% (24 in 67 inns) and Everton Weekes with 29.63% (8 in 27 inns).
It was Steve’s 11th century in Tests against India (in 43 inns), the most by any batsman. The next best are Joe Root (10 in 55 inns), Garry Sobers (8 in 30 inns), Viv Richards (8 in 41 inns) and Ricky Ponting (8 in 51 inns).
The player with the most Test centuries scored at the MCG is Don Bradman (9 in 17 inns), followed by Matthew Hayden (6 in 19 inns), Jack Hobbs (5 in 18 inns) and Steve Smith (5 in 19 inns).
Steve became the third player to score 5000 runs in innings #1 of Tests:
Sachin Tendulkar – 5608 runs @ 65.97
Ricky Ponting – 5403 runs @ 61.39
Steve Smith – 5016 runs @ 83.60
The best batting averages in innings #1 of Tests (min 20 innings) are:
Don Bradman – 2387 runs (22 inns) @ 113.66
Steve Smith – 5016 runs @ 83.60
Lindsay Hassett – 1655 runs (22 inns) @ 78.80
Everton Weekes – 2068 runs (27 inns) @ 76.59
It was Steve’s 50th first class century in his 305th innings – a percentage of 16.39%. This is the 10th highest in first class cricket history for players with at least 40 centuries, behind Don Bradman, Bill Woodfull, Bill Ponsford, Vijay Merchant, Arthur Morris, Lindsay Hassett, Martin Crowe, Darren Lehmann and Michael Bevan.
