Australia vs England: Ashes Player of the Day - Steve Smith

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  • Steve Smith's 21st Test ton gave Australia the edge.

    After rescuing Australia from an ominous position on Friday, Steve Smith was at it once again on Saturday dousing out the fires as he notched up his 21st Test century.

    Smith’s unbeaten 140-run knock on Saturday helped Australia take a slender 26-run first-innings lead in the Ashes opener at Brisbane. The 28-year-old’s unbeaten stand with Shaun Marsh had put the hosts in a strong position coming into day three at the Gabba but England came roaring back in the morning session with some early wickets to put Australia under the kosh once again.

    Smith, however, put together a century which will be remembered for a long time to come to enable his side to inch ahead once again in the crucial opening Test.

    Here, we look at the key talking points of the Aussie skipper’s gem of a knock.

    Slow but steady the mantra for Smith

    With a strike-rate of over 56 in Test cricket, one would generally not associate Smith with a low rate of scoring. The right-hander is one of the most free-flowing batsmen around.

    On Friday and Saturday though, the New South Wales man has shown a different facet to his game. In a pressure situation, Smith notched the slowest of his 21 Test centuries, taking 260 balls to get to the three-figure mark.

    This is also the slowest Ashes century by an Australian batsman since 1993.

    Smith's 261-ball century is the slowest of his 21 tons so far.

    Smith’s 261-ball century is the slowest of his 21 tons so far.

    Smith becomes third-fastest to 21 Test tons

    Smith’s numbers in Test cricket are nothing short of staggering. The 28-year-old has already amassed over 5,500 runs in the 57 Tests he has played for his country with an average now touching 61.23.

    There’s nothing the Australian skipper loves more than hitting a century though. When he brought up his 21st ton on Saturday, Smith had achieved the feat in five innings fewer than what the legendary Sachin Tendulkar.

    The 105 innings taken by the batsman is the third-quickest in the history of the game, behind only the iconic Sir Don Bradman and Sunil Gavaskar.

    Smith shepherds the tail to insure Australian lead

    Shaun Marsh departed quickly in the morning after reaching his half-century while Tim Paine could not muster more than 13 runs on his Test comeback. When Mitchell Starc was dismissed by Stuart Broad, Australia were reeling at 209-7, a full 93 runs behind England’s first innings total of 302.

    Smith then put together a 66-run stand with Pat Cummins for the eighth wicket where it was the pacer who did the bulk of the scoring with a fine 42-run knock. Once Cummins was dismissed by Chris Woakes, the Australian skipper took matter into his own hands, shielding Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazelwood to the hilt in an effort to erase the deficit.

    A 23 and 30-run partnership for the penultimate and ultimate wicket were vital for Australia to register a slender but psychologically vital 26-run first innings lead.

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