Australia cricket icon Steve Smith is gearing up for his second World Test Championship final as the Aussies look to defend their title against South Africa. The Aussies will put the ICC Test mace on the line as the final at Lord's sits on the horizon.
Smith will hold the key to Australia's chances in the final as he has been in red-hot form of late. Smith has slammed four centuries in his last eight innings leading into the ultimate Test against the Proteas. Meanwhile, Smith has a few records in his sights in the final.
Smith set to surpass Don Bradman and break Gary Sobers' record
Smith is eyeing a major milestone during the WTC final. He is 60 runs away from owning the record for most runs by a visiting player at Lord's. The Aussie icon currently has 512 runs in four Test matches at the venue and needs 40 to go past Bradman and 60 to go past Sobers and on top of the chart of most runs at Lord's by visiting players.
Overseas players with the most Test runs at Lord's:
Gary Sobers - 571
Don Bradman - 551
Shivnarine Chanderpaul - 512
Steve Smith - 512
Dilip Vengsarkar - 508
Allan Border - 503
Smith eyes Border, Viv Richards' record
Meanwhile, he has yet another record in his sight. Smith needs to hit one fifty in the two innings at Lord's to own the record for most fifty-plus scores by visiting batters in England. He currently has 17 fifty-plus scores in England with 2255 runs to his name. Smith is tied with Border and Richards at 17 such scores and needs one fifty to go past them.
Most fifty-plus scores in England by visiting batters:
Viv Richards: 17 in 24 matches
Allan Border: 17 in 25 matches
Steve Smith: 17 in 22 matches
Don Bradman: 14 in 19 matches
Gary Sobers: 14 in 21 matches