England vs Australia, 2nd Ashes Test Stats Review: Steven Smith’s feat, Nathan Lyon’s landmark match, and other stats

Australia survived Ben Stokes’s assault on the fifth and final day as they emerged victorious by a margin of 43 runs to clinch the second Ashes Test match at the Home of Cricket, Lord’s in London. Chasing a target of 371, the England skipper Ben Stokes smashed a magnificent 155 off 214, which included nine fours and as many maximums but couldn’t take his side home. With this victory, Pat Cummins and his Aussie side have now taken a 2-0 lead in the series.

Speaking in detail about the entire contest, Stokes won the toss and elected to field first. Opener David Warner finally got amongst the runs as he scored 66 off 88. But the innings were well controlled by supremely consistent Steven Smith, who smacked his 32^nd century (110) in Test cricket. He equalled Steve Waugh’s tally and is now joint second with him on the list. Travis Head played in his usual counter-attacking fashion as he struck 77 off just 73.

The tourists posted a competitive total of 416 on the board in their first innings. In reply, Zak Crawley racked up 48 while his opening partner Ben Duckett fell just two short of a solid century as he got dismissed for 98. Ollie Pope and Harry Brook amassed 42 and 50, respectively, as the hosts got bundled out for 325.

With 91 runs in the bank, opener Usman Khawaja continued his good form on the tour as he scored 77. The rest of the batting line-up delivered useful cameos, with the Kangaroos getting bowled out for 279. In the run-chase, Duckett continued from where he left off as he managed to score 83. Crawley, Pope, and Brook got out for single-digit scores as the trio failed to contribute. Stokes kept on attacking and slammed a memorable and outstanding hundred, but it wasn’t enough as the visitors held their nerve to get over the line. Seamers Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Josh Hazlewood all picked up three scalps each as England got bowled out for 327. For his century in the first innings, Smith grabbed the Player of the Match award.

Meanwhile, here are some of the important stats and numbers from the 2^nd Ashes Test between England and Australia:

32 – Steven Smith is now joint-second with Steve Waugh for smashing 32 centuries for Australia in Tests. Ricky Ponting tops the chart with 41 hundred.

100 – Nathan Lyon appeared in his 100^th consecutive Test match. He became only the sixth player in the history of the format to achieve the feat for a team. The other five are Alastair Cook (159), Allan Border (153), Mark Waugh (107), Sunil Gavaskar (106), and Brendon McCullum (101).

9113 – Smith reached the milestone of 9000 runs in the Test format. He became only the fourth Australian to do so after Ponting (13378), Border (11174), and Steve Waugh (10927).

60 – David Warner has now struck the most 50-plus scores (60) by an Australian opener in the game’s longest format. He surpassed Matthew Hayden and Mark Taylor, who both had 59 such scores.

22 – Smith has struck the most centuries (22) by any batter in the first innings of Tests. He surpassed Ponting’s tally of 21 hundred.

4 – Stuart Broad has dismissed Travis Head four times in the format, which is the most by any bowler. Indian trio of Mohammed Shami, R Ashwin, and Ishant Sharma got the better of Head thrice each.

3 – Ben Stokes has now struck the most centuries (three) by a player batting at no. five or below in the fourth innings. Asad Shafiq, Mohammad Azharuddin, Jonny Bairstow, AB de Villiers, Shivnarine Chanderpaul, and Roston Chase have all smashed two tons each.

8 – Smith has smashed the second-most tons (eight) by a visiting batter in Tests in England. He went past Waugh’s tally of seven centuries. Don Bradman tops the chart with 11.

11 – Pat Cummins has won 11 out of the 18 Tests as captain for Australia in Tests. The Aussies have suffered just three defeats under him while four ended up in a draw.

155 – Stokes registered the second-highest score of 155 in the fourth innings at the Lord’s. He went past Roy Fredericks’s score of 138 against England in 1976. Gordon Greenidge tops the list for his 214* against the English side in 1984.

316 – Mitchell Starc has now taken the third-most wickets (316) by an Australian pacer in Test matches. He surpassed Mitchell Johnson’s tally of 313 scalps. Glenn McGrath and Dennis Lillee are in the first and second spots for picking up 563 and 355 wickets respectively.

178 – Joe Root has now grabbed the most catches for England as a fielder in Tests. He went past Alastair Cook’s tally of 175 catches.

4 – Stokes has now struck the joint-most centuries (four) with Joe Root by an active England player in The Ashes.

363 – Ben Duckett has scored 363 runs in just four innings at an average of 121.00 with one century and two fifties at The Lord’s.

2 – Smith became the second-fastest batter to reach the landmark of 9000 runs. The right-hander did the job in 174 innings while Kumar Sangakkara reached the feat in 172 innings.

174 – Smith is also the fastest player to reach 32 centuries in Test cricket. His countryman Ponting achieved it in 176 innings.