On day 2 of the fourth match of the Ashes 2019 series against England in Manchester on Thursday, Australian cricketer Steve Smith surpassed Sachin Tendulkar's record and became the second-fastest cricketer in the history of Test cricket to hit 26 centuries.
The 30-year-old cricketer also scored his 11th century against England, overtaking legendary batsman Sir Garfield Sobers. He closed in on Donald Bradman in the elite list of most number of centuries scored against England. While Bradman has 19 centuries to his name from 63 innings, Smith took 45 innings to achieve the feat.
The Australian cricketer, who has been in prolific form during the Ashes, took 121 innings to score his 26th century. The Little Master had taken 136 innings to score the same number of tons. Only Bradman, who took 69 innings to score 26 centuries, remains ahead of Smith.
The Australian batsman, who is also currently hailed as the new Bradman of Test cricket, also went past Sunil Gavaskar and Mathew Hayden. Gavaskar had scored the same number of centuries in 144 innings while Hayden took 145 innings.
Smith has been in terrific form in Ashes, with his minimum score being 92. In the first Test, he scored 144 and 142 respectively in both the innings and in the Lords Test he scored 92.
The 30-year-old missed out the third Test due to injury. He made his return in style in the fourth Test as he scored the third double century of his career. All of the three have come against England.
Smith finished with a score of 211 on the board as he guided Australia to a first-innings total of 497 for the loss of eight wickets. England finished the second day of the Test with 23 runs on board for the loss of a single wicket.
The Ashes is evenly poised as both the teams have won one match each in the five-match contest.
