Steve Smith continues to be the supreme run-machine, creates new record in Lord's Ashes Test vs England

It is now proven. Steve Smith is a run-making machine and is the ultimate nightmare for England's bowlers. In seaming conditions, swinging conditions and in flat conditions, Smith can score plenty of runs against the old enemy and he showed his prowess on the fourth day of the Ashes Test at Lord's. Battling the conditions and with Australia five down, Smith produced a brilliant knock and registered his 25th fifty to tilt the balance once again in favour of Australia. However, in the process, Smith created a new record which further cemented his place as one of the modern day greats in Test cricket. 

Smith's sequence of scores against England stretches back to the 2017/18 Ashes series which Australia won 4-0. The string of scores began in the Perth Test and has continued until the Lord's Test of 2019. In the Perth Test, Smith slammed 239, followed by 76 and 102* in the Melbourne Boxing Day Test and 83 in the Sydney Test. In the Edgbaston Test, Smith slammed centuries in both innings while in Lord's, he has gone past fifty for the seventh consecutive time. 

This has broken the previous record of six fifty-plus scores set by Michael Hussey in the 2009/10 period against England. Hussey had smashed 121 in the Oval Test in the 2009 series which Australia lost 1-2 and in the 2010/11 Ashes held Down Under, Hussey had scores of 195 in Brisbane, 93 and 52 in Adelaide while he smashed 61 and 116 in Perth. However, Australia lost the series 1-3. 

Smith's feat of scoring two tons in the same Test has helped him surge to number three in the latest ICC Test rankings for batsmen. He has also gone past 900 points and he is behind Virat Kohli and Kane Williamson, who both have 922 and 913 points respectively. 
Speaking after scoring his century in the first innings, Smith had said he did not believe he would play cricket again during the 15 months he was away from the game. "There were times throughout the last 15 months where I didn't know if I was ever going to play cricket again. I lost a bit of love for it at one point, particularly when I had my elbow operation. It was really bizarre that it was the day I got the brace off my elbow, I found a love for it again. I don't know what it was, it was like a trigger that just said 'right I'm ready to go again, I want to play and I want to go out and play for Australia and make people proud and just do what I love doing'," Smith said.

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HIGHLIGHTS

• Steve Smith blasted his seventh consecutive 50+ score in Ashes Tests vs England.
• Smith blasted two centuries in the Edgbaston Test.
• Smith has hit 10 centuries against England.