Australian batter Steve Smith with his unbeaten knock of 85n.o off 149 took him past many records on the first day of the second Test match of the Ashes 2023 series against England.
The 34-year-old batter completed 15,000 international runs. Out of the 41 batters to have done so to date, his current average of 49.67 is bettered only by India's stalwart batter Virat Kohli (53.44). He also became the secon fastest to complete 9,000 runs in 174 innings in the Test format. Former Sri Lanka skipper Kumar Sangakkara is on the top of the list by completing 9000 runs in Test with 172 innings.
Current Indian head coach Rahul Dravid holds the third position by achieving the milestone in 176 innings. Brian Lara and Ricky Ponting are tied for the fourth position by achieving the milestone in 177 innings.
Although, Steve Smith is the fastest in terms of the number of matches taken (99), surpassing Lara, who had reached the mark in his 101st Test.
Finally, he completed another unique reward by achieving the most consecutive 50-plus scores at Lord's in Tests. He has struck four 50-plus consecutive scores. He is now level with Frank Woolley (1921-1926), Warren Bardsley (1912-1926) and Nasser Hussain (2001-2002) who have also struck four consecutive 50-plus scores at Lord's.
