Australia star batter Steve Smith smashed his 36th Test century during the second match against Sri Lanka on Friday, February 7 at Galle International Stadium. On the back of this feat, he joined the elite list where the likes of Joe Root and Rahul Dravid are already there. Smith who is leading the Australian team in the absence of Pat Cummins, carried forward his good form and achieved the milestone on Day 2 by playing a pull shot against Kamindu Mendis for a boundary.
Smith is now a part of a high-profile list of most centuries in Test cricket. He is now levelled with England’s Joe Root and former India cricketer Rahul Dravid, who also scored 36 hundreds.
Australia were reeling at 37/2 when Smith came out to bat. The likes of Travis Head (21) and Marnus Labuschagne (4) failed to make an impact with the bat. Smith then went on to forge 54 runs for the third wicket with Usman Khawaja before the latter was snared for 36 runs.
Smith continued to torment Sri Lankan bowlers alongside Alex Carey in the middle. The duo built a 100-run stand, powering Australia to a commanding position. Smith took 98 balls to reach his fifty. This was Smith’s second consecutive century in the series, following his magnificent 141 in the first Test.
SL vs AUS Full Squads
Sri Lanka: Dimuth Karunaratne, Oshada Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Prabath Jayasuriya, Lahiru Kumara, Vishwa Fernando, Asitha Fernando, Sadeera Samarawickrama, Jeffrey Vandersay, Nishan Peiris, Sonal Dinusha, Lahiru Udara, Milan Priyanath Rathnayake
Australia: Sam Konstas, Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Steve Smith (c), Travis Head, Beau Webster, Josh Inglis, Alex Carey (wk), Sean Abbott, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Scott Boland, Josh Inglis, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Cooper Connolly
