Australian skipper Steve Smith got his 23rd Test century during the 5th day of the Ashes Boxing Day Test match at the MCG. In trying to salvage a draw for Australia, he scored his hundred off 259 balls which incidentally is his second slowest century in Test cricket. On the other hand, the Englishmen tried their best to pick a few early wickets on the last day, so as to get a grip over the game, but Australia dead-batted the game to a draw.
Smith ended up scoring 102 runs off 275 balls, including just 6 boundaries. He batted at a low strike rate of 37.09 which was even lower than that of David Warner who scored the slowest fifty of his Test career with 50 off 161 balls. However, Smith set a few batting records after this particular innings against England and also surpassed Sachin Tendulkar’s record.
1. Highest runs scorer in Tests in 2017
Smith scored a total of 1305 runs and went past Cheteshwar Pujara (1140) and Dean Elgar (1128) to become the leading run scorer of the year.
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2. Most number of Test centuries in 2017
This time Smith surpassed his Indian counterpart to get the most number of hundreds in a year. Smith scored 6 centuries in 2017 while Virat Kohli and South Africa’s Dean Elgar scored 5 tons each.
What a player! #MastercardMoment#Ashes @MastercardAU pic.twitter.com/TTL9GxC9Co
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 30, 2017
3. Equals Ricky Ponting’s record
With 6 centuries in 2017, Steve Smith has equaled Ricky Ponting as the only men in Test history to have scored 6 hundreds in a calendar year on multiple occasions.
4. 3rd Fastest to 23rd century in Test career
Smith’s this century was the third fastest in Test cricket after Sir Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar. Smith took 110 innings to reach this feat while Bradman got 23 centuries in 58 innings. Gavaskar batted in 109 innings to get there. Smith is now ahead of Mohammad Yousuf (122 innings) and Sachin Tendulkar (123 innings).
Take a bow, Steve Smith. Test match ton No.23 #ohwhatafeeling#Ashes @Toyota_Aus pic.twitter.com/Ar83x2xAUy
— cricket.com.au (@CricketAus) December 30, 2017
5. 3rd joint most hundreds as a Test captain
After Graeme Smith and Ricky Ponting, Steve Smith becomes the third captain (along with Allan Border and Steve Waugh) to have the most number of hundreds in Test cricket.
Graeme Smith – 25 centuries
Ricky Ponting – 19 centuries
Allan Border/ Steve Waugh/ Steve Smith – 15 centuries
With the Boxing Day Test ending in a draw, the Aussies still lead the series by 3-0. Alastair Cook bagged the Man of the Match award as he carried the bat for the first time in his Test career, and scored an emphatic double hundred.
The last Test of the Ashes series starts from January 4 at the SCG, Sydney.
