Steve Smith went more than six years without a century in T20 cricket. Before the T20 World Cup 2022 in Australia, Smith's place in the side was questioned as well. On his return to Big Bash League (BBL) after two seasons, the former Australian batter has created history with consecutive centuries for Sydney Sixers.
In the Sydney derby, Smith seemed to pick right where he left off in the previous innings. The two quick wickets of opener Josh Philippe and Kurtis Patterson did not have an effect on him. He hit his first six in the third over. In the 10th over he reached his half-century from 31 deliveries.
While Moises Henriques took his time to settle, Smith continued the onslaught. In the 17th over, he reached his century with a six off leg-spinner Usman Qadir in front of a packed audience at Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG).
In the rain-curtailed 19 overs per side game, Smith remained unbeaten for 125 off 66 deliveries including five fours and nine sixes. He shared an unbeaten 155-run partnership for the third wicket which helped Sixers post 187/2.
Sydney Thunder failed to put up a fight as they got all out for 62 and lost the match by a massive margin of 125 runs. Steve OKeefe took four wickets for just 10 runs in his three overs. Only two Thunder batters managed to score in double digits.
The 125-run knock is Smith’s T20 career-best score. Smith scored 101 against Adelaide Strikers earlier this week. He also became the first Sydney Sixers batter to hit a century in BBL. His maiden T20 ton came in Indian Premier League (IPL) for now-defunct Rising Pune Supergiants in the 2016 edition against now-defunct Gujarat Lions.
With two T20 centuries in consecutive innings, Smith entered the elite list of batters who have hit two T20 tons on the trot. David Warner was the first to achieve the feat in Champions League T20 2011. Unmukt Chand (2013), Luke Wright (2014), Michael Klinger (2015), Kevin Pietersen (2015), Marco Marais (2018), Reeza Hendricks (2018), Ishan Kishan (2019) and Shikhar Dhawan (2020) are other T20 batters on the list.
In international cricket, only one batter has been able to hit two consecutive T20I tons. France's Gustav McKeon became the first batter to do it last year. He hit centuries against Switzerland and Norway to etch his name on the record books.
