When Steve Smith lofted Jack Leach to the boundary in the last over before the lunch break on Day 4 at the SCG, he confirmed himself as one of the best batters in Ashes history.
As the ball clattered into the advertising boards, Smith moved past 3000 Ashes runs, and in quick time, too; the quirky batting mastermind the second-fastest man to the milestone behind Sir Donald Bradman.
Steve Smith in action at the SCG (Twitter: @CricketAus)
Smith, who took just 54 innings to reach 3,000, is now one of only six players in Ashes history to achieve the feat, joining an illustrious club of run-makers, including Sir Jack Hobbs, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and David Gower.
Bringing up the milestone in a typically positive fashion, the lofted drive on the stroke of lunch was indicative of Smith at his prime, impervious to the bowler’s best efforts. In that way, it was reminiscent of his dominant 2019 Ashes series.
If on Saturday he joined an exclusive Ashes club, it was during that fabled 2019 series that Smith first established himself in Ashes folklore. Amassing 774 runs at 110.57, it is the fifth-most prolific individual Ashes series of all time.
Though his aggregate was 200 fewer than Don Bradman’s record effort in 1930, both players scored exactly 35.5% of their team’s total runs for the series. To that end, Smith’s runs came when desperately needed (think twin 140’s in the first Test), as he set up the series for Australia.
Bradman's stunning Ashes record earned adulation from English supporters (Bradman Archives)
Comparisons, of course, are futile. Sir Donald Bradman, who achieved the 3,000 Ashes runs feat in an astonishing 38 innings (that’s 16 fewer than second-placed Smith), utterly dominated Ashes cricket as he did the game more broadly.
With 5,028 runs from 63 innings against England, he is almost 1,500 clear of Sir Jack Hobbs, and his 19 Ashes hundreds will likely never be surpassed.
MOST RUNS IN MEN’S ASHES CRICKET:
- Sir Donald Bradman (5,028)
- Sir Jack Hobbs (3,636)
- Allan Border (3,548)
- David Gower (3,269)
- Steve Waugh (3,200)
- Steve Smith* (3,017)
* Indicates still playing
Join the cricket network to promote your business and expertise. Make it easy for people to search and find the people and services they need through people they know and trust.
Join the network
