Steve Smith equals Steve Waugh with Test century No.32

Ian Chadband | June 29, 2023

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.

England were finally glad to see the back of their old tormentor when Smith was caught in the gully by Ben Duckett for 110, attempting a booming drive off England’s Ashes debutant Josh Tongue. It came off 184 balls and featured 15 fours.

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.

With 9079 Test runs in total in his 99th match, Smith’s average of 59.73 is superior to Waugh and any of the other batters above him in the hundreds list.

Soon after reaching the three-figure landmark, Smith (3176) 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