The Ashes: Steve Smith equals Steve Waugh with Test century No.32 at Lord’s

Steve Smith has reached another landmark in his extraordinary career, moving on to his 32nd Test century at Lord’s the day after reaching 9000 runs in the five-day game.

Smith, starting off unbeaten on 85 after looking in complete control on the opening day, went patiently to his latest three-figure masterpiece on Thursday morning at the home of cricket.

The Sydneysider had a scare when beaten by Stuart Broad on 99 but he reached his ton soon after with a glorious cover drive off James Anderson and was given a warm embrace from his batting partner, captain Pat Cummins.

The milestone ton, coming a decade since his first down the road at The Oval, brought the 34-year-old level with Steve Waugh in the list of Australian centurions, with only another former captain Ricky Ponting ahead of them on 41.

Smith and Waugh are now joint-11th in the all-time list of Test centurions, headed by Sachin Tendulkar, the only man to have scored more than a half-century of centuries.

Soon after, Smith (3174) also went to fourth on the all-time runs list in Ashes cricket, overtaking Waugh’s 3173.

LIST OF THE MOST PROLIFIC CENTURY MAKERS IN TESTS

Sachin Tendulkar (Ind, 1989-2013) 51

Jacques Kallis (SA, 1995-2013) 45

Ricky Ponting (Aus, 1995-2012) 41

Kumar Sangakkara (Sri Lanka, 2000-2015) 38

Rahul Dravid (Ind, 1996-2012) 36

Younis Khan (Pak, 2000-2017) 34

Sunil Gavaskar (Ind, 1971-1987) 34

Brian Lara (WI, 1990-2006) 34

Mahela Jayawardene (SL, 1997-2014) 34

Alastair Cook (Eng, 2006-2018) 33

Steve Waugh (Aus, 1985-2004) 32

Steve Smith (Aus, 2010-current) 32