{"id":305865,"date":"2023-06-09T01:52:28","date_gmt":"2023-06-09T01:52:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305865"},"modified":"2023-06-09T01:58:36","modified_gmt":"2023-06-09T01:58:36","slug":"smiths-ridiculous-record-at-english-test-venue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/?p=305865","title":{"rendered":"Smith's ridiculous record at English Test venue"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oval was where Steve Smith<\/a> earned his maiden century in test cricket, in the 2013 Ashes<\/a> series.<\/p>\n

Since then, no other ground where he's played more than once outside of Australia has given him as much pleasure.<\/p>\n

In the World Test Championship final on Thursday night (AEST) against India he achieved his third century in four tests at the Oval<\/a>, where he averages 102.4, the best of all visiting batters.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn terms of English wickets it's probably as close to Australia as you can get, the pace and bounce in the surface,\u201d Smith said. \u201cThe square goes the whole way across so you get good value for your shots so, yeah, I've enjoyed playing here and it was nice to score a few again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Australia<\/p>\n

On 95 overnight, he directed his first two balls of the final's second morning to the boundary on the leg side for the hundred. Typically, he ground down India's attack to reach the hundred in 229 balls<\/a>. He was eventually out for 121 from 268 balls, dragging on after five-and-a-half hours.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt's about staying in the moment as much as possible,\u201d he said. \u201cBasically just forgetting what happened the ball before and playing the next ball, and if you get out then so be it. I thought I did it pretty well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith arrived at the crease just before lunch on the first day to find David Warner had left an uncommonly deep hole where he marked his guard.<\/p>\n

Watch \ufeffevery ball of the Ashes series live and exclusive on Nine and <\/strong><\/em>9Now<\/strong><\/em><\/a>.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"Steve<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked Marnus (Labuschagne), \u2018What\u2019s going on down the end here? There's this big hole that I'm about to fall into.' I almost twisted my ankle the first few balls I faced out there. Then I sort of got used to it, but it was odd. When I'm moving to off stump and I've got this hole there, it was something I hadn't experienced before, but it worked for me so he can keep digging.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith's 31st hundred in one of the great careers was also his seventh in England, tying him with Steve Waugh. The only overseas batter with more in England was Don Bradman with 11.<\/p>\n

Smith's form, after a brief buildup with County side Sussex, is ominous not just for India in the final but also the five-test Ashes series that starts next week at Edgbaston and finishes at the Oval in late July.<\/p>\n

On the last Ashes series in England in 2019, Smith led with 774 runs at 110.5. In his past nine test innings in England, he has been dismissed for less than 82 just once.<\/p>\n

\"Head,<\/p>\n

England batter Ollie Pope said on Thursday they were developing \u201cquirkier ways\u201d to try and unsettle Smith without elaborating.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe averages over 60 here now … so there's a lot of respect for him,\u201d Pope said.<\/p>\n

"But there's also a lot of talented bowlers in our changing room who have worked out ways we can challenge him. I can't say too much but there's probably slightly different plans this time.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe's got his routines \u2014 his slightly longer routines \u2014 before he faces each ball and he won't be ready until he's done all those routines. What's made him successful is that stubbornness, and that stubbornness for runs as well. That's exactly the bubble we've got to try and get him out of.\u201d<\/p>\n

For a daily dose of the best of the breaking news and exclusive content from Wide World of Sports, subscribe to our newsletter by<\/strong><\/em> clicking here<\/strong><\/em><\/a>!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oval was where Steve Smith earned his maiden century in test cricket, in the 2013 Ashes series. Since then, no other ground where he's […]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":305867,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305865"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=305865"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305865\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":305871,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/305865\/revisions\/305871"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/305867"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=305865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=305865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sportinfo.pro\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=305865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}