Australia’s Steve Smith continued his dream run on his Test return after the ball-tampering scandal with a second hundred in the first Ashes Test on Sunday.

The former captain was eventually dismissed for 142 as Australia set England an imposing target of 398 to win the first Test at Edgbaston.

It followed his 144 in the first innings and he has now scored 1,116 runs in his past 10 Ashes innings, a figure second only to the 1,236 made over the same span by Don Bradman – widely regarded as Test cricket’s greatest batsman.

He is now just the fifth Australia batsman to have made hundreds in both innings of an Ashes Test following Warren Bardsley (1909), Arthur Morris (1946/47), Steve Waugh (1997) and Matthew Hayden (2002/03).

“But, it’s kind of a dream comeback in a way. To be able to score two hundreds in a match, in the first Ashes match, it’s something I have never done in any form of cricket before in my life. It’s incredibly special,” he said of the knock.

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Ashes-holders Australia, bidding to win their first Test series away to England in 18 years, made 487-7 declared in their second innings as they capitalised on the absence from the home side’s attack of the injured James Anderson.

Here’s a look at all the big numbers from Smith’s record feat

Australian tons in both innings of Ashes Test

Player Scores Venue Year
Warren Bardsley 136 and 130   The Oval 1909
Arthur Morris 122 and 124 no Adelaide 1946/47
Steve Waugh 108 and 116 Manchester 1997
Matthew Hayden 197 and 103 Brisbane 2002/03
Steve Smith  144 and 142 Birmingham 2019

With AFP Inputs