Steve Smith second Australian cricketer to hit 500 runs in successive Ashes matches

Manchester: Steve Smith on Thursday became the second Australian after Allan Border to score 500 and more runs in the consecutive Ashes series in England.

The 30-year-old reached this milestone after he added 122 runs in the ongoing fourth Ashes Test. In the first two matches of the series, he had 378 runs under his name.

In 2015 Ashes which took place in England, Smith scored 508 runs while this time in his third match he crossed the 500 run mark.

Before Smith only Border had amassed the 500 plus runs consecutively in the Ashes in England. Border scored more than 500 runs in 1981 and 1985 Ashes series.

Earlier in the day, Smith became the second batsman to score most centuries against England and surpassed the record of Garry Sobers and Steve Waugh.

Smith scored his eleventh century against England and his career's 26th century. He took 45 innings to get to this feat. Only Don Bradman had hit most hundreds than Smith in Test against England. He had scored 19 centuries in 63 innings.

Earlier than Smith, both Sobers and Waugh were the joint record holders in the second position as they scored ten centuries against England in 61 and 73 innings respectively.

Smith is making a comeback after missing out the third Ashes Test due to failed concussion test after he was hit by the pacer Jofra Archer in the second Test match.

Smith returned to the international cricket after serving a one year ban due to his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal against South Africa in 2018. He recently became the world number one batsman in the International Cricket Council (ICC) Test rankings. At the time of filing this story, Smith was batting at the score of 191 runs.