Summer of 62: Smith wins numbers game with back-to-back hundreds

Smith’s latest outrageous performance, a second straight 62-ball ton on Sunday, gave him two of the four fastest ODI centuries for Australia in the space of two days and sounded another ominous warning of what might be ahead for Virat Kohli's India in the field this summer.

He wasn’t wrong. Whatever the master batsman was doing behind closed doors at Blacktown over the past fortnight looked to have set up the summer for Australia until David Warner left the ground in agony with a groin injury, casting doubt about his status for the rest of the limited-overs campaign and the Test series.

There was light and shade from Smith on a stinker of a Sunday as he sprinted to three figures with 40 runs in 19 balls. A case in point was the 40th over where, facing Jasprit Bumrah, he began by smacking a slower ball beyond point for four, then executed the most gentle of late cuts past ‘keeper KL Rahul for another via a vacant third man and finally produced a third with an elegant glance through fine leg.

It took them past David Boon and Geoff Marsh to rise to eighth on the all-time list of top-scoring one-day opening pairs and third among Australians. Their 3638 runs together put them well behind the leaders, Sachin Tendulkar and Sourav Ganguly and Australia’s most prolific, Adam Gilchrist and Matthew Hayden , but their average partnership of 52.

Australia Latest News, Australia Headlines

Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.

Brady’s example shows Smith might miss Storm more than Storm misses SmithOpinion: The comparisons between Cameron Smith and Tom Brady are obvious. But Thursday night might have shown us a key factor where they differ Smith is no Brady. That’s an insult to Brady. Are you serious?
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »

Holidaymakers leaving Sydney urged to avoid peak hours during summerHolidaymakers should expect heavier traffic than usual when they escape Sydney this summer as transport authorities plan for the busiest ever holiday period on the roads | JoshDye91
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »

Australia v India LIVE updates: Another blistering Steve Smith century puts Australia in commanding positionAustralia have the 1-0 series lead after the opener in Sydney. Join us for live coverage of the second ODI between the Aussies and India.
Source: theage - 🏆 8. / 77 Read more »

Australia v India LIVE updates: Another blistering Steve Smith century puts Australia in commanding positionA blistering Steve Smith century has put Australia in a commanding position in their ODI against India at the SCG. Follow the action here:
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »

As summer arrives, Sydney's flying foxes are waiting for their sprinklersThere are fears Parramatta Park’s 15,000 flying foxes may die from heatstroke this summer because a plan to install sprinklers in the area has stalled due to heritage concerns | ameliamcguiree
Source: smh - 🏆 6. / 80 Read more »