Steve Smith Update - Batting and Fielding

Sutherland District Cricket Club | February 12, 2025

On day 2 of the 2nd Test vs Sri Lanka, Steve Smith scored his 36th Test century, equalling Rahul Dravid & Joe Root. He is now behind only Sachin Tendulkar (51), Jacques Kallis (45), Ricky Ponting (41) & Kumar Sangakkara (38).

He was the second fastest to 36 Test centuries, reaching the milestone in his 206th Innings, behind only Ponting (200 innings) and ahead of Sangakkara (210) & Tendulkar (218).

It was Steve’s 18th Test century scored overseas (in 106 innings), equalling Ricky Ponting’s Australian record (in 133 innings). The only players who have scored more centuries overseas are Tendulkar (29 in 176 inns), Jacques Kallis (22 in 137 inns) & Dravid (21 in 166 inns).

It was his 17th Test century as captain, in his 40th Test as captain. He is behind only Graeme Smith (25 in 109 Tests), Virat Kohli (20 in 68) & Ricky Ponting (19 in 77). In terms of centuries per innings as captain, Steve has scored centuries in 24.64% of innings batted – ahead of Kohli (17.70%), Ponting (13.57%) & G.Smith (12.96%). The only player with at least 10 centuries as captain with a higher strike rate is (not surprisingly) Don Bradman, with centuries in 36.84% of innings batted.

It was Steve’s 7th Test century on the Asian continent, the most by an Australian. He also went past Ponting’s record for the most Test runs by an Australian on the Asian continent (1889 runs). He has now scored 1994 runs in Asia, at an average of 52.47. The only other players with at least 1000 runs in Asia who average over 50 are Mike Hussey (1198 @ 63.05), Usman Khawaja (1607 @ 61.80), Allan Border (1799 @ 54.51) & Matthew Hayden (1663 @ 50.39).

Steve and Alex Carey added 259 for the 4th wicket in the 2nd Test. He has now had partnerships of at least 200 runs in Tests with 11 different batting partners, the most by any player and one more than Ricky Ponting with 10. Steve’s partners have been Joe Burns, Alex Carey, Michael Clarke, Travis Head (2), Usman Khawaja (2), Marnus Labuschagne, Mitch Marsh, Shaun Marsh (2), Chris Rogers, Adam Voges (2) & David Warner – a total of 15 200-run partnerships. The only players who have been part of more 200-run partnerships are Jacques Kallis (20), Sachin Tendulkar (18) & Ponting (17) , while Hashim Amla, Rahul Dravid & Graeme Smith have also been part of 15 such partnerships. Don Bradman was part of 14 200-run partnerships in 80 innings batted – a strike rate of 17.50%. The next best strike rates per innings batted are Graeme Smith (7.32%) & Steve Smith (7.28%).

Steve’s batting average as captain in Tests is now 68.98 in 40 Tests. For all players who have captained in at least 15 Tests, the only better batting averages are by Don Bradman (101.51 in 24 Tests) & Kumar Sangakkara (69.60 in 15 Tests). The highest batting averages for captains in their team’s first innings are Steve Smith (87.45 in 39 innings), Don Bradman (78.81 in 23 innings) & Mahela Jayawardene (70.78 in 38 innings).

The highest strike rates of centuries per innings batted by players who have scored at least 20 Test centuries are by Don Bradman (29 centuries in 80 innings = 36.25%), Kane Williamson (33/186 = 17.71%) & Steve Smith (36/206 = 17.48%).

The players with the most centuries in their team’s first innings are Sachin Tendulkar (38 centuries in 197 innings), Ricky Ponting (35 in 168 inns), Jacques Kallis (34 in 166 inns) & Steve Smith (32 in 115 inns).

Steve took 3 catches in the Sri Lankan second innings. This was the 21st time that he has taken 3 or more catches in an innings in Tests. The next most instances are 13 by Stephen Fleming & Brian Lara and 12 by Mahela Jayawardene, Joe Root & Ross Taylor. He is the only player to have taken 5 catches in an innings twice – 14 other players have done it once. He is the only player to have taken 6 or more catches in a match on four occasions. Three players have taken 6 or more catches in a match three times – Stephen Fleming, Graeme Hick & Garry Sobers.

Steve finished the Test with 200 catches in 116 Tests. He is now equal with Jacques Kallis (200 in 166 Tests) and behind only Rahul Dravid (210 in 164 Tests), Joe Root (207 in 152 Tests) & Mahela Jayawardene (205 in 149 Tests).

Steve has now scored 10271 runs in 206 innings, at an average of 56.75. The only player to have averaged more in his first 206 innings is Ricky Ponting (10365 runs at 57.58). The only player to have scored more than 10000 runs with a higher average is Kumar Sangakkara, with 12400 runs at 57.41.