Steven Smith Becomes Australia's Greatest Ever Catcher In Tests

Steve Smith cannot stop creating history in Galle. Last week, he became the fourth Australian to go past the 10000-run mark in Test cricket. In the same innings, he also hit his 35th Test hundred, going past Younis Khan, Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara and Mahela Jayawardene, all of whom had 34 Test hundreds to their name.

Today, on the first day of the second Test of the series, Smith scripted further history by becoming Australia’s most successful catcher in Tests. He took two catches - that of Kamindu Mendis and Prabath Jayasuriya - to go past Ricky Ponting (196) and become the non-wicketkeeper with the most outright catches for Australia in Tests (197).

Most catches for Australia in Tests (non-WK)

197 - Steve Smith

196 - Ricky Ponting

181 - Mark Waugh

157 - Mark Taylor

Smith is now three catches away from becoming the fifth player in Test history to take 200+ catches as a non-wicketkeeper. The other four men to have achieved this feat are Rahul Dravid (210), Jayawardene (205), Jacques Kallis (200) and Joe Root (207).

Remarkably, among players with 150+ catches in Tests, no one has taken more catches per innings than Smith, who takes 0.895 catches per innings on average.