New Delhi [India], July 16 : Following his strong run against India during the ongoing Test series, England wicketkeeper-batter Jamie Smith has joined South African legend AB de Villiers and former Zimbabwe great Andy Flower, becoming only the third wicketkeeper-batter with 1,000-plus runs in Tests with a batting average of 50 or more.
Jamie is having a run of a lifetime during the home series against India, where he is the third-highest run-getter with 415 runs in three Tests and six innings at an average of 103.75, with a century and two fifties to his name, his best score is 184, the highest-ever score by an England wicketkeeper-batter in Test cricket.
Currently in his 13-match Test career, Smith has scored 1,056 runs in 22 innings at an average of 55.57, with two centuries and six fifties.
De Villiers also played 24 of his 114 Tests as a designated wicketkeeper-batter, scoring 2,067 runs in 39 innings at an average of 57.41, with seven centuries and fifties each, as per Wisden.
Flower, one of Zimbabwe's cricketing pillars of the 1990s to 2000s, played 55 of his 63 Tests as a keeper-batter, scoring 4,404 runs at an average of 53.70, with 12 centuries and 23 fifties.
Smith has joined the record books multiple times during this series, becoming only the third English wicketkeeper-batter to score 400 runs or more in a Test series, featuring Stewart, who scored 405 runs against South Africa in 1998 and Les James, who struck 417 runs against the West Indies in 1930. He achieved this feat after his first-innings half-century at Lord's.
During the same match, he levelled the record of South African cricketer Quinton de Kock in scoring 1000 runs in the fewest innings of a Test match by a wicketkeeper. Smith achieved this landmark during the first session of the second day of the Lord's Test. He completed this milestone in 21 innings, which is the joint-highest with De Kock, who retired from the longest format back in December 2021.
At Edgbaston, where he played knocks of 184 and 88 during a losing cause, Jamie ended up making history books nonetheless, crafting a remarkable 272-run aggregate across both innings, the highest ever by an England wicketkeeper in Test history.
Smith surpassed the previous England record for most runs by a wicketkeeper in a Test, crossing Alec Stewart's 204 runs against South Africa in 1998, when he played the knocks of 40 and 164 runs.
Globally, Smith's total is the third-highest match aggregate by any wicketkeeper in the history of Test cricket. Only Zimbabwe's Andy Flower has scored more in a single match, with staggering tallies of 341 runs against South Africa in Harare in 2001 (with knocks of 142 and 199*) and 287 (knocks of 55 and 232*) against India in Nagpur in 2000.
The fourth Test of the series will be played at Manchester from July 23 onwards, with the series in favour of England by 1-2.
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