Steve Smith Breaks 141-Year Record at Lord's in WTC Final

Photo: AFP

Australia’s star batter Steve Smith has made history by becoming the highest run-scorer as a visiting player in Test matches at the famous Lord’s Cricket Ground. This incredible milestone came during the World Test Championship (WTC) Final against South Africa.

Smith scored 66 runs off 112 balls, including ten boundaries, on Day 1 of the match. With this knock, he took his total runs at Lord’s to 591, breaking the long-standing record of Warren Bardsley, who had scored 575 runs at the ground. He also went past the legendary Don Bradman (551 runs) and Gary Sobers (571 runs).

This makes Smith the first non-English batter in 141 years—since the first Test match at Lord’s in 1884—to score over 590 runs at the venue.

Before this final, Smith had already scored three fifties and two centuries at Lord’s, with his highest being 215 runs during the 2015 Ashes series.

Smith’s knock was crucial for Australia, especially after they were struggling at 67/4 at lunch due to brilliant bowling by South African pacers Kagiso Rabada and Marco Jansen. He then built a solid 79-run partnership with all-rounder Beau Webster, helping Australia fight back. However, Smith was eventually dismissed, caught at slip off part-time spinner Aiden Markram.

This was also Smith’s fourth century and a fifty in his last six Test matches, showing how consistent he has been. He is now the only batter to score more than one fifty in WTC Finals.

Smith also set another record—he now has the most fifty-plus scores (18) by any non-English player in Test matches played in England, going past legends like Allan Border and Viv Richards, who had 17 each.

Australia will now hope that Smith’s efforts help them defend their World Test Championship title, which they won two years ago by beating India.