London: Steve Smith cracked his 32nd Test hundred against England on Day 2 of the second Ashes Test at the iconic Lord's here on Wednesday.
He got to his century after caressing James Anderson's ball wide of cover for a boundary. This is Smith's 12th Test century against England and 8th under English conditions.
Earlier, Smith had achieved a rare milestone by becoming the second fastest player ever to reach 9,000 Test runs in less than 100 Tests. Sri Lanka's Kumar Sangakkara had achieved it in 172 innings.
Smith is now on par with Steve Waugh who scored 32 Test centuries, and behind Ricky Ponting who smashed 41 tons.
Smith also became the 7th fastest batsman to reach 15,000 international runs in terms of innings. He achieved this feat in his 351st international innings.
India's Virat Kohli leads the list with 333 innings he took to reach the milestone of 15k international runs, followed by Hashim Amla and Viv Richards.
Smith also is closing in on England legend Jack Hobbs' record of second most Ashes runs, which would leave him second behind Sir Donald Bradman.
As per the latest update, Smith was removed by Josh Tongue caught by Ben Duckett at gully who showed good reflexes to grab the low catch. Australia are 397/8 in 96.4 overs. (UNI)
