Steve Smith: The Key to Australia’s Success in the World Test Championship Final
Steve Smith in WTC
In a career of twists and turns, Steven Smith started out as a legspinner and become Australia’s best batter since Sir Donald Bradman, either side of having his career derailed by a ball-tampering scandal that saw him stripped of the captaincy and banned for 12 months.
The rise from that controversy at Newlands in 2018 was near-miraculous: Smith returned to Test cricket with a 774-run Ashes series in 2019, and pictures of him in tears at Sydney airport after his return in disgrace from South Africa were replaced in the popular memory with those of triumphant celebrations of centuries.
In the WTC final at the Oval, Australian batsman Steve Smith produced his eighth test century against India and his seventh in England.
Steve Smith smashed his 31st Test hundred on the second day of the World Test Championship (WTC) final against India at the Oval on Thursday.
He is now one century behind Steve Waugh in the list of players with the most Test centuries for Australia. Ricky Ponting leads the way with 41 Test tons.
His eighth Test century against India also tied Joe Root’s record for the most hundreds in Tests against India.
Smith now ranks second after Sir Don Bradman (11) in the record of hundreds by visiting batters in England with seven centuries.
With three hundreds in six innings at the Oval, Smith has a stellar record there. Only Bradman, with four at Headingley, has amassed more centuries in a single English location.
In the WTC championship game, Smith scored a century after his teammate Travis Head. After Australia was reduced to 76 for three following Marnus Labuschagne’s dismissal, the two batsmen put up a partnership of more than 250 runs.
