Steve Smith’s complete dominance over England has gone to a new level with the former Australian skipper scoring another brilliant century in the first Ashes Test at Edgbaston.
Having carved out a brilliant 144 to rescue his ▨side in the first innings, Smith once again proved a class above an England attack badly missingꦜ the injured James Anderson, turning his overnight score of 46 into 142.
Smith completed his 25th Test to🔴n with one of his more aesthetically pleasing shots, driving Stuart Broad between mid-off and extra cover for his 10th boundary in the second over after lunch.
Even the pro-England crowd and the Barmy Army withheld their boos to stan♕d and applaud Smith.
The 30-year-old has now become the first batsman to score twin Ashes centuries since Matthew Hayden posted 197 and 103 in Brisbane in the opening Test of the 2002-03 series, and the first in 22 years to achieve the feat in England after Steve Waugh’s 108 and 116 at Old Trafford.
Here’s how the cricket world reacted on Twitter:
The Best Test Match Batsman I have seen … That’s during my time playing & watching the game is … This guy is a genius … !!
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan)
What an absolute genius this bloke is 😍
— Glenn Maxwell (@Gmaxi_32)
Respect…incredible resilience , skill and above all mental strength. twin 💯‘s
— Tom Moody (@TomMoodyCricket)
Century in both innings. After staying away from cricket for long…..hope nobody is booing him anymore. Only appreciation. Applaud. Modern Day Great.
— Aakash Chopra (@cricketaakash)
What a way to come back into Test🐼 cricket 🏏 Steve Smith keep going!!
— Lisa Sthalekar (@sthalekar93)
Steve Smith is a great player obviously, but more than that, he has incredible mental strength & resilience. H꧃e is single-handedly taking this game away from us.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan)
Special Smith, legendary status for the A🤪ussie 👏 never mind the pressure, this man is familiar 🙈with big games 🏏 congratulations on another 💯
— R P Singh रुद्र प्रताप सिंह (@rpsingh)
Steve Smith: Tes𝓀t batsman: P๊eerless in his generation.
— Ian Raphael Bishop (@irbishi)
144 &am❀p; 142 in 1st Test over a year for Steve Smith. English booed and Smith made them cry 😂. Made the bat talk. batted Champi♛on 👏
— Daniel Alexander (@daniel86cricket)
൩I’ve been fortunate enough to see some pretty decent Ashes knocks up close. These two from Steve Smith, however⛦, are definitely up there with the best I’ve ever seen. One of the great Test Match performances.
— Ian Bell (@Ian_Bell)
In just 3 days time boos have transformed into a standing ovation. That's what geniuses like Steve Smith can do. Magnificent knock
— Deep Dasgupta (@DeepDasgupta7)
The onlyꦐ time Steve Smith acknowledged the Hollies Stand, walking off f🥃or 142.
— Adam Collins (@collinsadam)
Great fight back from Aust. Another 100 runs puts them as favourites🐻 to win from there.Smith freakish!
— Mark Waugh (@juniorwaugh349)
Well done ..ton n each innings n Test C▨rkt is a rarity..but coming at a time when team needs it most is just fantastic..& now fr the contest to become a needle some more effort is required by rest o OZ batting-But how could they leave out & ?
— Bishan Bedi (@BishanBedi)
Two 140+ scores in same Test
150* & 153 – Allan Border v Pak (Lahore) 1980
142 & 199* – Andy Flower v SAf (Harare) 2001
162 & 143 – T Dilshan v Ban (Chittagong) 2009
144 & 142 – Steve Smith v Eng (Birmingham) 2019 – first in an Test— Mohandas Menon (@mohanstatsman)
