Stats: Steve Smith’s record ton on Test comeback inspires Australia to a commanding total

Steve Smith announced his return to Test cricket in grand style as he struck a big hundred on the first day of the Ashes 2019. Australia were eight down for 122 runs on the board in the second session. Smith batted with Peter Siddle and Nathan Lyon and added 88 and 74 runs respectively for the last two wickets. With support from the lower-order, the former Australian skipper struck 144 from only 219 deliveries. Smith was the last man to be dismissed and turned out to be Broad’s 5th scalp but not before pushing his team’s score to 284.

All the major stats and numbers recorded during an eventful first day of the 2019 Ashes:

Smith returns with a record ton:

9 – This was Steve Smith’s 9th century in the Ashes; the joint 4th most by any player and the 3rd most for Australia. Only Sir Donald Bradman (19) and Steve Waugh (10) are the top two centurions for Australia in the Ashes. Sir Jack Hobbs (12) of England is the other player to have scored more than nine Ashes centuries.

118 – Innings Steve Smith needed for scoring his 24th century in Test cricket; the 2nd fewest by any player. Sir Donald Bradman scored his 24th Test century in only his 66th innings. Virat Kohli was second on this before Smith as the Indian skipper needed 123 innings for 24 Test tons.

Broad @ 100:

100 – Stuart Broad completed 100 wickets in the Ashes with the wicket of Steve Smith. Broad became only the 18th player and the 8th from England with 100+ wickets in the Ashes. However, Broad’s average of 29.37 is the 3rd worst among the 18 players with 100+ Ashes wickets and is only behind James Anderson (34.56) and Clarrie Grimmett (32.44).

A record knock on the first day:

3 – Steve Smith became only the 3rd Australian to score a century on the first day of an Ashes series hosted by England. Andrew Hilditch scored 119 in the 1985 Leeds Test while Mark Taylor scored 124 in the 1993 Manchester Test match.

Overall, Smith’s 144 is the highest individual score on the first day of an Ashes series in England. Johnny Tyldesley of England scored 138 during the first day of the 1902 series also played in Birmingham.

144 – Smith’s 144 is the 4th highest individual score by an Australian on the first day of an away Test match. Greg Chappell was unbeaten on 162 at the end of the first day of the 3-match Test series in Wellington against New Zealand during 1973/74 season.

His brother Ian Chappell scored 145 before getting out on the same day as the duo shared 264-run stand for the 3rd wicket. During the 2008 Test series in the Caribbean, Ricky Ponting scored 158 before being dismissed on the first day of the first Test in Kingston.

Smith @ 1000:

1097 – Smith completed 1000 runs in Test cricket in England during his 24th Test innings in this part of the World. He is the 96th player to amass as many as 1000 Test runs in England. Only 34 visiting players have achieved this feat including 17 players from Australia.

Broad’s bunny?

7 – This was the 7th instance of Stuart Broad claiming the wicket of Steve Smith in Test cricket. No other bowler has managed to dismiss Smith in Tests more often. James Anderson and Yasir Shah took the wickets of Broad six times apiece in this format.

England couldn’t run through the bottom:

1993 – The last instance of England conceding two 50+ stands for the 9th and 10th wickets were back in the 1993 Ashes Test at the Oval. This was the 7th instance for any team where they had 50+ stands for the last two wickets in the same Test innings against England; all the seven were recorded by Australia only.