Mitchell Johnson analyses bowling tactics to Steve Smith after Australia moved 34 runs ahead of England on day 3 at Edgbaston. (1:34)
Steve Waugh says he has “never seen anything like” Steven Smith, as Australia’s former captain capped a remarkable comeback Test at Edgbaston with his second century of the match, making him only the fifth Australian and the first since Matthew Hayden in 2002 to achieve the feat in an Ashes Test.
Following 144 to begin the match, Smith reached a second chanceless hundred for the Test by cracking Stuart Broad through cover in the second over after lunch, pausing with a wide grin to acknowledge a crowd chorus now far more applause than boos. On his watch, Australia are on course for a big lead over England on day four of the first Test at Edgbaston.
Speaking to Channel 9 during the lunch break, at which point Smith was 98 not out, Waugh – who himself made back-to-back hundreds to win the Old Trafford Test in 1997 – said: “I’ve never seen anything like him. His preparation is amazing, he’s thorough, he hits more balls than I’ve ever seen anyone and when he goes out to bat it’s almost like he’s in a trance-like state.
“He knows exactly what he’s trying to do, exactly what the opposition are trying to do, how they are trying to get him out. He seems to have answer for everything. He’s an incredible player, don’t think I’ve seen anything quite like him and his appetite for runs is second to none. His technique is amazing, it’s unique, but he knows what he’s doing and how to score runs. He analyses every ball and it’s like a computer, he spits out the answer.”
Among many achievements in Smith’s stunning record as a batsman, he had never previously made a hundred in each innings, with a best second innings tally of 71 in matches where he had made a first innings 100. But to choose his first match since returning from his Newlands scandal ban, and an Ashes match at that to do so, put him in extremely rare company indeed – one of the rare batting clubs of which Sir Donald Bradman isn’t a member.
Hayden’s 197 and 103 at the Gabba in 2002 were also in the first match of a series, only six years after Waugh’s 108 and 116 at Old Trafford in the third Test of the 1997 encounter.
For the previous instance, the clock has to be turned back to January 1947, when Arthur Morris made 122 and 124 not out at Adelaide Oval. The first man to do it, as far back as 1909, was Warren Bardsley, who notched 136 and 130 at The Oval.
Three England batsman have also achieved the feat in Ashes Tests – and they are also among the elite of Ashes competition: Herbert Sutcliffe, Wally Hammond and Denis Compton.
For Australia, Hayden and Waugh were both on the winning side of their matches, while Morris and Bardsley made their runs in drawn Tests. Smith, having soared to a memorable century on the opening day of the series, an emotional release after his many trials and tribulations over the past year and a half, has now re-marked his guard in the most authoritative way possible.
Source: ESPN Crickinfo