Steve Smith turns 32 years old – decrypting his prime career achievements

Steve Smith turns 32 years old – decrypting his prime career achievements

Steve Smith

The best Test batsman of this era, Steve Smith turned 32 on this Wednesday. He is the former captain of the Australian side and is considered one of the leading batsmen in Test cricket history. Presently the Aussie batsman is number two in the ICC Test Rankings, and is considered to be the next Don Bradman for possessing a distinctively high caliber batting average in red ball format.

The idiosyncratic batsman who debuted as a bowling all-rounder soon impressed with his batting displays and from a leg-spinner who can bowl, Smith became an out and out batsman. Growing from strength to strength soon, he became a giant of the game and is on his way to be considered one of the game’s all-time greats, especially in Test cricket.

Major career achievements of Steve Smith

Steve Smith
Steve Smith

Steven Peter Devereux Smith’s Test career stats read 7,540 runs from 77 matches scored at an average of 61.80, the second-highest in the format after Don Bradman .Furthermore, Smith (27) is only two tons deficit of equaling Bradman’s record of 29 centuries. Smith smashed his career best of 239 against England in 2017.

Steve Smith is the seventh-highest run-scorer in the Ashes series. Interestingly, he is the fourth-highest scorer for Australia.He has scored 2,800 runs at an average of 65.11.He has the second-best average after Don Bradman (89.78). Smith has registered 11 Ashes tons which is the second-most for the Aussies after Bradman (19).

Smith’s maiden Test century came against England in the 2013 Oval Test, wherein he amassed an unbeaten 138.He has been unstoppable in The Ashes ever since.Notably, Smith was the top run-getter in the following three Ashes series (2015, 2017, and 2019 respectively). He recorded a unique feat of smashing 500 plus runs in three consecutive Ashes series (508, 687, and 774).

Steve Smith is the fastest to 7,000 Test runs playing just 126 innings, surpassing Wally Hammond’s record of 131 innings.In last year’s Ashes, Smith became the first batsman in Test history to score ten consecutive 50-plus scores against a single opponent. His scores during the period (2017-19) read – 239, 76, 102*, 83, 144, 142, 92, 211, 82, and 80, which is one of the most consistent performance one can ever see in the history of Test cricket.

Smith is the fastest Australian batsman and the sixth-fastest batsman in the world to reach 10,000 runs in international cricket. The 32-year old is also just the second batsman to score more than 1,000 runs in Tests in four consecutive calendar years and the only player to have won the ICC Test Player of the Year on two occasions.

With respect to ODI the star batsman had featured in 128 ODI’s and scored 4,378 runs at an average of 43.34 standing 7th in the highest run scorer for Australia in ODI. His ODI career comprises of 11 tons and 25 fifties with a best of 164. The Aussie cricketer also has 794 runs to his name in the International T20 format.

With a few more years to go before a potential retirement that would leave a huge void in Australian cricket, Steve Smith is only set to get better and conquer more milestones.

Also read: “If you go back to Steve Smith, you’re going backwards” says Ian Chappell

Also read: IPL 2021: David Warner and Steve Smith could leave tournament and fly back to Australia – Reports