The incredible statistical brilliance of Steven Peter Devereux Smith

Boasting a near Bradman-esque average of 78.12 in 17 Tests against England since a first Ashes century at The Oval in 2013: Gaze in wonder at the sheer statistical brilliance of Steven Peter Devereux Smith.

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Steve Smith has returned to Test cricket after over a year in self-inflicted purgatory with 286 runs from two innings, a contribution that has put Australia on the brink of its first Test victory at Edgbaston since 2001.

It is a stunning performance, but one that feels almost routinely extraordinary such is his talent.

Some purists find it hard to find beauty in the way he twitches and fidgets through his mammoth stays at the crease.

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But the numbers don’t deal in aesthetics; the records and jaw-dropping statistical measurements almost as inexhaustible as his own appetite for time at the crease.

Here are just some of them:

Steve Smith operates in a different stratosphere to any other player in his era.

Smith’s tally of 286 from his two innings at Edgbaston is the biggest mountain of runs that any Australian has compiled in a Test at the venue. Graeme Smith (362) holds the overall record.

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The only other Australian to have registered two scores of 140-plus in a single Test is Allan Border (150no, 153 v Pakistan, Lahore 1980).

Smith’s past 10 Ashes innings prove his absolute dominance of English bowlers.

143, 141*, 40, 6, 239, 76, 102*, 83, 144, 142 - a total of 1116 runs @ 139.50

His average after passing 50 in that time is an otherworldly 152.9

Smith has plundered 2312 runs from 24 Ashes Tests. The only Australians with more runs in the showpiece series are Bradman (5028 from 37), Border (3222 from 42), Waugh (3173 from 45), Clem Hill (2660 from 41), Mark Taylor (2496 from 33), Ricky Ponting (2476 from 35) and Neil Harvey (2416 from 37).

Smith thus moves up to 18th in the all-time Ashes run-scorers list after 24 Tests. No other player in this series is in the top 50

Smith has drawn level on the list of Ashes centurions with Steve Waugh, only Donald Bradman and Jack Hobbs have scored more.

He is now level with Steve Waugh on 10 Ashes centuries. Only Don Bradman (19) and Jack Hobbs (12) have more

Smith is only the second player after Mike Hussey to score six consecutive Ashes fifties.

Steve Smith's #Ashes career

2010-11 in Aus: 7,36,6,38,18,54*

2013 in Eng: 53,17,2,1,89,19,17,2,138*

2013-14 in Aus: 7,31,0,6,23*,111,15,19,115,7

2015 in Eng: 33,33,215,58,7,8,6,5,143

2017-18 in Aus: 141*,40,6,239,76,102*,83

2019 in Eng: 144, 109*

24m, 10 x100, 61.59 ave

— Samuel Ferris (@samuelfez) August 4, 2019

Originally published as The incredible statistical brilliance of Steven Peter Devereux Smith