Four hundred and sixty-seven men have played exactly one Test match in their careers, but that is one more than countless others who have toiled away in domestic cricket around the globe without ever donning the whites for their country.

Playing Test cricket is hard. It is also a privilege. So when a player crosses the landmark of 100 Tests, it shows both how good and fortunate they have been in their careers.

A total of 74 players from around the world have played 100 or more Test matches so far. Steve Smith, arguably the greatest Test batters after Don Bradman, is set to become the 75th when the third Ashes Test at Headingley gets underway today, July 6.

Smith, who started off primarily as a leg-spinning all-rounder who batted at Nos.8 and 9 on Test debut, currently has a batting average of 59.56. No other player in history has played as many Test matches with a higher average than him.

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Smith will become the 15th Australian to get into the 100-Test club, the joint-most from any country along with England, who already have 15 players who have played 100-plus Test matches.

Country-wise list of players who have played 100-plus Test matches

The numbers alongside the players’ names indicate the number of Test matches they’ve played (before the start of the third Test of the 2023 Ashes).

England: 15

James Anderson – 181
Stuart Broad – 164
Alastair Cook – 161
Alec Stewart – 133
Joe Root – 132
Ian Bell – 118
Graham Gooch – 118
David Gower – 117
Michael Atherton – 115
Colin Cowdrey – 114
Geoffrey Boycott – 108
Kevin Pietersen – 104
Ian Botham – 102
Andrew Strauss – 100
Graham Thorpe – 100

Australia: 14

Ricky Ponting – 168
Steve Waugh – 168
Allan Border – 156
Shane Warne – 145
Mark Waugh – 128
Glenn McGrath – 124
Nathan Lyon – 122
Ian Healy – 119
Michael Clarke – 115
David Boon – 107
David Warner – 106
Justin Langer – 105
Mark Taylor – 104
Matthew Hayden – 103

India: 13

Sachin Tendulkar – 200
Rahul Dravid – 164
VVS Laxman – 134
Anil Kumble – 132
Kapil Dev – 131
Sunil Gavaskar – 125
Dilip Vengsarkar – 116
Sourav Ganguly – 113
Virat Kohli – 109
Ishant Sharma – 105
Virender Sehwag – 104
Harbhajan Singh – 103
Cheteshwar Pujara – 103

West Indies: 9

Shivnarine Chanderpaul – 164
Courtney Walsh – 132
Brian Lara – 131
Viv Richards – 121
Desmond Haynes – 116
Clive Lloyd – 110
Gordon Greenidge – 108
Chris Gayle – 103
Carl Hooper – 102

South Africa: 8

Jacques Kallis – 166
Mark Boucher – 147
Hashim Amla – 124
Graeme Smith – 117
AB de Villiers – 114
Shaun Pollock – 108
Gary Kirsten – 101
Makhaya Ntini – 101

Sri Lanka: 6

Mahela Jayawardene – 149
Kumar Sangakkara – 134
Muttiah Muralitharan – 133
Chaminda Vaas – 111
Sanath Jayasuriya – 110
Angelo Mathews – 104

Pakistan: 5

Javed Miandad – 124
Inzamam-ul-Haq – 120
Younis Khan – 118
Wasim Akram – 104
Saleem Malik – 103

New Zealand: 4

Daniel Vettori – 113
Ross Taylor – 112
Stephen Fleming – 111
Brendon McCullum – 101