Steve Smith slams his ninth Test fifty against Pakistan: Stats
Steve Smith smoked a valiant half-century against Pakistan in the third innings of the ongoing second and Boxing Day Test in Melbourne. The veteran batter played remarkably well amid tough circumstances and returned with 50 off 176 balls. He slammed three boundaries as Shaheen Afridi dismissed him on the final ball of Day 3. Here we look at his stellar stats.
A valiant knock from Smith
Australia were reeling at 16/4 in their second innings as Shaheen Afridi and Mir Hamza were sensational with the new ball. Smith, who arrived at number four, joined forces with Mitchell Marsh (96) and the duo bailed the team out of trouble with a 153-run stand. Though Smith played the second fiddle in the partnership, he eventually completed a fine fifty.
Ninth Test fifty against Pakistan
In the series opener, Smith became the ninth Aussie batter to accomplish 1,000 Test runs against Pakistan. Standing in his 14th match against the team, the 34-year-old has raced to 1,133 runs, averaging 51.50. The tally includes nine fifties and a couple of tons. 633 of Smith's Test runs against Pakistan have come across seven games at home (Average: 63.30).
Close to 9,500 runs for Smith in Tests
Earlier this year, Smith became the second-fastest batter to 9,000 Test runs, having taken 174 innings. He is only behind Kumar Sangakkara, who took 172 innings. Standing in his 104th Test, he has raced to 9,472 runs. The tally includes 32 tons and 40 fifties. Smith's average of 58.11 is only second to Donald Bradman (99.94) among batters with at least 5,000 Test runs.
How has the match proceeded?
Australia posted 318 after being asked to bat first as Marnus Labuschagne scored 63. Usman Khawaja (42) and Marsh (41) also played handy knocks. Pakistan made 264 in response thanks to fifties from Abdullah Shafique (62) and skipper Shan Masood (54). While Pat Cummins claimed five wickets, Nathan Lyon claimed a four-fer. Marsh and Smith extended Australia's lead past 200 runs.
