Steve Smith seemed to be at his best at Lord’s. On Wednesday, the Australian batsman played an innings of 66 runs in the face of the fiery bowling of the Protea bowlers in the final of the 2025 Test Championship. And thanks to this innings, he broke one record after another, which has taken him to the ranks of legends at this historic ground in England.
Lord’s has always been Smith’s favorite ground. Earlier, he had a brilliant century here in 2023. Known as a player on the big stage, Smith proved himself once again. His innings of 66 runs off 112 balls on the first day of the match against South Africa added some feats that have given him a new place in the pages of cricket history.
Smith now owns the highest number of fifty-plus innings as a touring batsman on English soil. With 18 fifties, he has surpassed many legendary cricketers on this list so far. Smith also holds the record for most runs by a foreign player at Lord’s. His 66-run innings took his total at the historic venue to 578. He broke a 99-year-old record, surpassing legends like Warren Bardsley, Garry Sobers, and Sir Don Bradman. Smith’s total runs in 10 innings of 6 matches at Lord’s are 591, at an average of 59.10. On the other hand, his countryman Warren Bardsley scored 575 runs in 7 innings of 5 matches between 1909 and 1926, at an average of 115.
Steve Smith, with his 66-run innings, has achieved feats that no other cricketer has achieved. He is the first batsman in the history of the Test Championship to score a fifties in multiple finals. He is also the first cricketer outside Asia to score more than 5 fifties in ICC knockout matches. Yesterday he surpassed Sachin Tendulkar with his 7th fifty.
This innings of 66 runs against South Africa in the Test Championship final is Smith’s 5th fifty-plus innings at Lord’s. Only Shivnarine Chanderpaul has achieved this feat among foreign cricketers in the history of cricket. But it does not end here, Smith is now close to another historic record. He has the opportunity to become the first Australian cricketer to score 500 runs in Tests at a neutral venue. He surpassed Ricky Ponting’s 470 runs yesterday and stopped at 495 runs. Steven Smith will create new history among Australians if he scores just 5 runs in the second innings.
