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Young attacking wicket-keeper batter Jamie Smith scored a brilliant maiden Test century to put England in a commanding position on Day 3 of the 1st Test against Sri Lanka in Machester. Smith’s fighting century helped England to reach the mammoth total of 358 runs before they were all out.
Jamie Smith’s Maiden Test century puts England in control
England’s Jamie Smith’s ton gave England a crucial lead in the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Old Trafford. Smith’s 111-run knock came off 148 balls and included eight fours and one six. His innings helped England recover from a shaky start and post a respectable total of 358 runs in their first innings. Smith’s innings was a masterclass of strokeplay. He hit seven fours and one six in his 136-ball knock. His century came off 136 balls. Smith’s best partnership was with Gus Atkinson, who scored 20 runs. The pair added 64 runs for the🐬 seventh wicket.
Also WATCH: Asitha Fernando tak🍸es down England’s captain Ollie Pope with an unplayable ball on Day 2 of ENG vs SL Test
England in strong position
England are now in a strong position to win the first Test. They have a first-innings lead of 125 runs. Other notable contributions came from Ben Duckett (18), Dan Lawrence (30), Ollie Pope (68), and Joe Root (42). Despite these contributions, England’s batting order collapsed, losing wickets regularly throughout the innings. The bowling attack from Sri Lanka, led by Dhananjaya de Silva (1/14), Prabath Jayasuriya (5/85), and Asitha Fernando (1/34), proved to be effective, limiting England’s scoring rate and taking crucial wickets at key moments.
Here’s how Twitter reacted:
A maiden Test hundꦕred for young Jamie Smith 👏 | 📝:
— ICC (@ICC)
24 years old Jamie Smith is a special talent! He has just hit his first of many test centuries to come.
Delight to watch him bat with ♈the tail. He has already scored 10 first class centuries with a hꦜighest of 234*— Basit Subhani (@BasitSubhani)
🎉 Congratulations Jamie Smith!
He goes to his maiden first-cl🐻a꧃ss century on debut.Take a bow sir. 🙌
— Surrey Cricket (@surreycricket)
//twitter.com/ROY_45_/status/1826942773020545467
Present 🤝 Future
A maiden Test century for Jamie Smith of Eng༺land.
This guy has it all.
— Gray-Nicolls (@graynics)
Jamie Smith has his first century for England!
Live Score @
— Jega8 (@imBK08)
An ou▨tstanding maiden century by Jamie Smith in Tests
— SBM Cricket (@Sbettingmarkets)
A maiden Test century for ༺Ja🦄mie Smith. You would think that it’s the first of many 👏
— Aadam Patel (@aadamp9)
//twitter.com/irfanul82246383/stat🗹us/♑1826958578604794153
90% – Jamie Smith showed 90% control through his debut Test century, the most controlled century by an men's batter since v India (92%) at Edgbaston in 2022; his favourite shot was the cover drive which contributed 29 of his 111 runs. Classic.
— OptaJim (@OptaJim)
