Steve Smith Answers Joe Root With 37th Test Ton, Solidifying Australia’s Command in SCG Test

In 219 innings, Steve Smith became the third-fastest player to score 37 Test centuries, trailing only legends Ricky Ponting and Kumar Sangakkara.

Steve Smith Answers Joe Root With 37th Test Ton, Solidifying Australia’s Command in SCG Test

Steve Smith scored his 37th Test hundred, in the first innings of the fifth and final Ashes Test in Sydney. (via ANI News)

🔍 Explore this post with:

ChatGPTPerplexityGrok AIGoogle AI

Following Joe Root, who hit a brilliant hundred in the first innings of the fifth and final Ashes Test, veteran Australian batsman Steve Smith proved equally formidable by scoring a century of his own. He appears to be another unstoppable force in the longest format.

Steve Smith had only recorded one 50+ score in the ongoing 2025-26 Ashes until the fifth Test in Sydney. His other scores in the series were a modest 9, 24, 23, 17, and 2, while he was absent from the playing XI in Melbourne due to a fitness issue. He has captained the Australian team in four out of the five Tests against the touring England side, helping them secure the ‘Urn’ with victories in the first three games.

He looked in his best form on the third morning at the SCG, his home ground. Smith stepped onto the pitch amidst a rousing reception from the crowd, following Michael Neser‘s dismissal in the 55th over of Australia’s first innings.

The 36-year-old then forged a 54-run stand with opener Travis Head, who finished with 163 runs off just 166 deliveries. After Head fell to Jacob Bethell’s delivery in the 68th over, Smith took charge, batting through the remainder of the day. 

The 36-year-old managed to stitch crucial partnerships with Usman Khawaja, Cameron Green and Beau Webster. In the 110th over of the innings, Smith brought up his 37th Test hundred and finished the third day’s play unbeaten, having scored 129 runs from 205 balls, which included 15 fours and one six. He helped Australia to a commanding total of 518/7, with a massive 134-run lead over the Three Lions. 

Smith now boasts a stellar record in Test matches at the SCG, having scored 1,225 runs in 20 innings at an average of 72.05, including five hundreds. Furthermore, Smith has narrowed the gap in the all-time Test century list with Joe Root, as the Englishman now has 41 hundreds, while Smith has 37. Root also scored 160 runs off 242 balls in the first innings at the SCG, ending a lengthy streak without a century at the ground.

Smith’s career Test tally places him 13th on the all-time list of run-getters in the format, and fourth among all Australian players. Across 123 Test matches, the veteran batter has amassed 10,742 runs at an impressive average of 56.53.

Travis Head joins Steve Smith in elite club after getting into historic 600-run Ashes

Travis Head seems to be in the form of his life, having most recently entered an elite club of Ashes legends. Head, after scoring 162 runs in the fifth 2025-26 Ashes Test in Sydney, became the 17th player to go past the 600-run milestone in a single Ashes series. 

Travis Head 600 runs Steve Smith
Travis Head joins Steve Smith on list of players with 600 runs in a single Ashes series. (via One Cricket)

Steve Smith is the only player in the current Australian squad to have achieved this historic milestone, and he has done it twice. The 36-year-old first reached the feat in the 2019 Ashes, where he amassed 774 runs, hitting three hundreds and three fifties. He then repeated it during the 2017-18 Ashes, recording 687 runs at an astonishing average of 137.40, including three hundreds and two fifties.

Travis Head is now the eighth Australian player to do so. Head has scored 600 runs in the ongoing 2025-26 Ashes so far, with the help of three brilliant centuries. He is currently placed 21st on the list of players with the most runs in a single Ashes series, but is likely to overtake legends like Greg Chappell and Michael Vaughan with a notable second-innings knock in Sydney.

The 32-year-old is the first Australian opener since Matthew Hayden in the 2002-03 series, to achieve three centuries in a home Ashes series. In the 2025-27 World Test Championship cycle, Travis Head currently ranks third in total runs with 824 runs from just 15 innings.

Also Read: