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Steve Smith entered his name in the history books on Sunday by becoming the first Australian and the fifth player overall in the world to take 200 catches in Test cricket.
Steven Smith becomes first Australian to take 200 catches in Tests. (Picture Credit: AFP)
Star Australian batter Steve Smith created history on Sunday, February 9, by becoming the first player from his country to take 200 catches in Test cricket. Smith, who is leading the Baggy Greens in the ongoing two-match Test series against Sri Lanka, achieved the milestone during the first session of Day 4’s play of the ongoing second Test at Galle International Stadium. Smith entered his name in history books by completing Kusal Mendis’ catch off Nathan Lyon’s bowling in the 64th over of Sri Lanka’s 2nd innings.
Smith completed a total of five catches in the match. He is the fifth cricketer in the world after Rahul Dravid, Jacques Kallis, Mahela Jayawardene, and Joe Root to take 200 catches in Tests. Former India captain and head coach Dravid is the most successful outfielder in Tests with 210 catches to his name in 164 matches, and he is followed by Root (207), Jayawardene (205), and Kallis (200).
Most catches in Tests
- Rahul Dravid (India) – 210
- Joe Root (England) – 207
- Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) – 205
- Jacques Kallis (South Africa) – 200
- Steve Smith (Australia) – 200
- Ricky Ponting (Australia) – 196
- Mark Waugh (Australia) – 181
- Alastair Cook (England) – 175
- Stephen Fleming (New Zealand) – 171
- Graeme Smith (South Africa) – 169
During the first day’s play of the second Test in Galle, Smith broke Ricky Ponting’s record of 196 catches for Australia in Tests.
Most catches for Australia in Tests
- Steve Smith – 200
- Ricky Ponting – 196
- Mark Waugh – 181
- Mark Taylor – 157
- Allan Border – 156
- Michael Clarke – 134
- Matthew Hayden – 128
- Shane Warne – 125
- Greg Chappell – 122
- Steve Waugh – 112
The five catches in the second Test against Sri Lanka have also helped Smith not just become the second player after Root to take 100 catches in the World Test Championship (WTC) but also become the most successful fielder in WTC. The star right-handed batter has 104 catches to his name in 52 WTC matches, whereas Root has completed 100 catches in 64 matches.
Most catches in WTC
- Steve Smith (Australia) – 104
- Joe Root (England) – 100
- Ben Stokes (England) – 54
- Zak Crawley (England) – 53
- Virat Kohli (India) – 49
In the ongoing series, Smith has impressed with his batting performance as well. He scored 141 runs from 251 balls in the first innings of the first Test played at Galle International Stadium from January 29 to February 1, and in the first innings of the ongoing match, he amassed a total of 131 runs from 254 balls.
Smith, who became the fastest batter to score 10,000 runs (in terms of matches) for Australia during the ongoing away series, has 36 Test centuries to his name. Only Ponting (41) has scored more triple-digit scores in the five-day format of the game for the Baggy Greens. The century in the first innings of the second Test also helped Smith become the second Australian and third batter overall in the world to score 4000 runs in WTC.
