Australian skipper Steve Smith continues his dream run in the longest format as he once again played some dominating innings against England and also registered his 22nd Test century.
While Sachin Tendulkar took 114 innings to score his 22nd Test hundred, Smith has done it in just 108. The other two players who reached the milestone in fewer innings than Smith are Don Bradman (58) and Sunil Gavaskar (101).
The century in Perth is Smith’s 14th as captain, his 12th in Australia, his 7th against England and the 5th hundred of 2017. He also completed 1000 Test runs in 2017 becoming the only player other than former opener Matthew Hayden to do so for four consecutive years.
In this series, it is Steve’s second century and he also scored a ton in Adelaide, in 241 balls, which was the slowest ton of his career.
Indian opener Rohit Sharma also praised Smith for his innings, as he tweeted, “What a player Steve Smith. Doesn’t look like he’s going to get out. Does he ? Well played #Ashes”.
What a player Steve Smith. Doesn’t look like he’s going to get out. Does he 😳 Well played #Ashes
— Rohit Sharma (@ImRo45) December 16, 2017
Smith also converted this one into a double century in the third session on Day 3 as he got a good support from all-rounder Mitchell Marsh who also scored a century and stitched a partnership of more than 200 runs for teh 5th wicket. Australia has also increased their lead of over 50 runs.
This pair also became the third pair in the history of Test cricket to amass 200 runs for the fifth wicket.