"In the statistics of the game there are milestones, then there are mountaintops. For a long time in Smith's Ashes-heavy career there have been two peaks gradually drawing closer in the mist. Donald Bradman's 5,028 runs against England is one that even Smith will never climb. Jack Hobbs's 3,636 runs against Australia is the one he ascended on Tuesday. For almost a century these have been the two leaders of the rivalry, their careers overlapping in the 1928-29 series"
"One of the greatest, Hobbs mastered batting in Australia, something so few from England have done. Five centuries at the MCG, two-thirds of his Ashes runs scored on foreign tours rather than on the familiar grounds of home. His record seemed unbreakable until Bradman shot beyond it. So it is a feat of great significance that Smith is now the one sitting second behind Bradman for runs between the nations, as well as second for centuries,"
Steve Smith rose to second place all-time for runs in England–Australia Tests, surpassing Jack Hobbs's Australia total. Smith combined a dominant six-year peak and a later return to high-level form to reach the mark during the fifth Test in Sydney. Donald Bradman's 5,028 runs against England remains out of reach. Hobbs had excelled in Australia with five MCG centuries and most of his Ashes runs scored on foreign tours. Smith reached the same number of Tests as Hobbs (41) but batted twice more, recorded his fifth home-ground Test hundred and second Ashes century, despite early unease at the SCG.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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