Steve Smith Equals Sunil Gavaskar’s 49-Year-Old Record with His Last Innings in Ashes 2019 Test Series

Steve Smith’s astonishing Ashes 2019 streak drew to an abrupt end one day before the five-match Test series would have concluded. It was abrupt not just because for the first time in the entire Ashes 2019 Test series, Smith walked back without scoring at least a half-century but also because for the first time in seven innings, the 30-year-old right-handed batsman had been fooled by England’s tactics. Smith was dismissed for a 53-ball 23 runs. That, however, was enough for him to equal Sunil Gavaskar’s 49-year-old record of scoring 774 runs in a single series. Smith, who managed 774 runs in just seven innings, is also the fifth-highest run-scorer in a single Ashes Test series. Steve Smith Batting Stats in Ashes 2019: Modern-Day Bradman Makes and Breaks a Flurry of Records in Fourth Test at Old Trafford Stadium.

The 30-year-old was dismissed by Broad, who noticing Smith’s regular early shuffling across the crease, bowled one short and on mid-level at his body. Smith, like has been doing all series, glanced it towards leg-gully where Ben Stokes was stationed. Stokes plucked low from the ground and Smith for the first time in over two months and five Test matches – since his return from a year ban – had to walk back without at least a half-century to his name. Steve Smith Surpasses Clive Lloyd and Inzamam-ul-Haq to Create THIS Rare Test Record on Day 2 of Fifth Ashes 2019 Test.

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Gavaskar, like smith, scored 774 runs in the 1970/71 Test series against the great West Indies team. His accomplishment included four hundred and three half-centuries in four Test matches and seven innings. Smith also took part in four Test matches in Ashes 2019 but played seven innings. His 774 runs from seven innings, included two centuries, a double ton and three fifties. Smith, until his dismissal to Chris Broad for 23 runs, had the lowest score of 80 runs in Ashes 2019. His scores in the five-match Test series read 144, 142, 92, 211, 82, 80 and 23. Smith played only one inning in the second Test match at Lord’s after being knocked out by a Jofra Archer bouncer.

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Don Bradman leads the charts for most runs in a single series. Bradman smashed an astonishing 974 in just seven innings and did not even bat in three innings of the five Test matches Australia played against England in Ashes 1930. England’s Wally Hammond is second with 905 runs in nine innings in, which he scored in Ashes 1928/29.

The list for most runs scored in a single series is heavily-dominated by Australia with three of the top-five batsman being Australian players. Mark Taylor (839 in 11 innings) and Robert Neil Harvey (834 in nine innings) are the other Australian players in the top-five. West Indies legend Viv Richards, who amassed 829 runs in just seven innings in the famous 1976 Tour of England, completes the top five.

Smith is ranked 12th in the overall list of most runs scored in a single series. He averaged 110.57 in the seven innings he played in Ashes 2019. Smith also finds his name in the 14th place in this illustrious list for his exploits in the 2014/15 Border-Gavaskar Trophy. Smith scored four successive centuries and three fifties in eight innings during India’s Tour of India in 2014. He finished the series 769 runs from four Test matches.

The World No 1 batsman is also the fifth-highest run-scorer in a single Ashes series in its history. Bradman and Hammond are the top two names with 974 and 905 runs in 1930 and 1928 respectively, while Mark Taylor (839 in 1939), Bradman again (810 in 1936/37) are ahead of arguably this generation’s greatest Test batsman.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Sep 15, 2019 09:06 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).