Steve Smith equals Len Hutton’s record, now only behind Don Bradman

New Delhi: Steve Smith’s double century has not only resulted in Australia reclaiming the Ashes but also put him in company with Len Hutton. The current Aussie captain has equalled the English batting legend’s tally of 945 points in the ICC Test Player Rankings and is now only behind the greatest batsman of all, Don Bradman.

Smith scored 239 in the third Ashes Test at Perth, which helped his team take an unassailable 3-0 lead in the five-match series and swelled his rankings points to 945 as joint-second, along with Hutton, on the all-time list.

Smith gained seven points after his performance in Perth to overtake Peter May, Ricky Ponting and Jack Hobbs. He is now within 16 points of Bradman’s tally of 961 points.

His batting average of 62.32 is second only to Bradman in terms of batsmen with at least 20 Test innings and by the time the fourth Test of the series starts on Boxing Day, he would have been the number one for two years.

India captain Virat Kohli is second on the latest rankings with 893 points.

Smith is already ahead of Bradman with regard to the number of Tests at the top. He has now been number one for 114 Tests, which is the fifth-most in a list led by Gary Sobers (189 Tests), followed by Viv Richards (179), Brian Lara (140) and Sachin Tendulkar (139).

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