Australia thrashed England by 72 runs in the second One-day international match played at Sydney Cricket Ground on 19 November. Steve Smith produced another lovely performance with the bat.
Australian stand-in captain Josh Hazlewood won the toss and decided to bat first. David Warner and Travis Head provided a flying start putting pressure on England’s new ball bowlers. England’s stand-in captain Moeen Ali struck in his first over itself getting rid of Warner. Warner and Head added 33 runs for the opening wicket.
Steve Smith came at No.3 and showed intent taking singles and hitting occasional boundaries not allowing the England bowlers to settle. He and Marnus Labuschagne steadied the ship for Australia keeping the scoreboard ticking. Adil Rashid struck twice off successive deliveries getting wickets off Labuschagne and Alex Carey. Smith and Labuschagne added 101 runs for the third wicket.
Smith completed a half-century off 70 balls and kept Australia on course for a competitive total. Smith looked in great touch with lovely shots against the spinners as well as pacers. He was eventually dismissed for 94 off 114 balls with 5 fours and 1 six. Smith and Mitchell Marsh added 90 runs for the fifth wicket. Ashton Agar provided some late impetus in the 50th over to help Australia post 280 for 8 in 50 overs.
Australia take 2-0 lead against England
Mitchell Starc rattled the England team with two wickets in the first over getting rid of Jason Roy and Dawid Malan with beauties. James Vince and Sam Billings looked impressive with 122 runs partnership for the 4th wicket. From 156 for 3, Australia bowled England out for 208 to give Australia a commanding win.
Steve Smith looked impressive in the first One-day international at Adelaide Oval. He remained 80 not out helping Australia chase 288 runs with ease. Steve Smith became the fastest Australian batter to complete 14,000 runs in international cricket.
Smith is currently Australia’s ninth-highest run-getter going past David Boon. He registered the feat of 14,000 runs in 288 matches. His current form in ODI cricket has been great of late with four 50-plus total.
He has been the backbone of the Australian batting line-up across all formats. Smith scored 8161 runs from 87 Test matches (154 innings) at an average of 60 with the highest score of 239. The number 3 batter scored 28 centuries and 36 fifties. Smith made his Tests debut on 13th July 2010 against Pakistan.
Smith also performed brilliantly with 4802 runs from 137 matches (122 innings) in the One-day international format at an average of 44.87 with the highest score of 164. During his ODI career, Smith hit 12 centuries and 28 half-centuries. He made his ODI debut on 19th February 2010 at MCG against West Indies.
He has featured in 63 T20I matches (51 innings) with 1008 runs. Smith hit 4 half-centuries in the shortest format. Smith made his T20I debut for Australia against Pakistan at MCG on 5th February 2010.
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