Jamie Smith became the youngest England men's Test wicketkeeper to score a century, breaking a 94-year record on his way to a 111 against Sri Lanka in the ongoing Manchester Test.
At 24 years and 40 days, Smith became the youngest England wicketkeeper to hit a Test hundred, breaking Les Ames' record from 1930. Ames scored a century against West Indies aged 24 years and 60 days in Port of Spain. Interestingly, Ames also scored a century in Kingston two months later in the same series.
Playing just his fourth Test, Smith started the third day on 72 with England 23 runs ahead. He moved closer to his maiden Test hundred, having fallen five runs short of the milestone during West Indies' visit last month. He reached the century in the 77th over, nudging Milan Rathnayake away for a couple of runs, helping England to an eventual lead of 122.
A stellar knock from an impressive talent 👏
— Wisden (@WisdenCricket) August 23, 2024
Pure class from Jamie Smith! 💯
Follow the match here ➡️ https://t.co/dyFGD5kiHq pic.twitter.com/jFhcSbxRhJ
Along the way, he became the first wicketkeeper born in or after 2000 to score a men's Test century.
Smith now has 318 runs from five innings: only five other England players scored more runs in their first five innings. The list is led by KS Ranjitsinhji, and also includes Reginald Foster, Brian Valentine, Harry Brook and David Lloyd.
Smith is only the third wicketkeeper in the current World Test Championship cycle to score a century, after KL Rahul (2023) and Mohammad Rizwan (in the ongoing Rawalpindi Test).
It's a small sample size, but with a five-innings cutoff, Smith has the highest average among England Test wicketkeepers (63.60), followed by the stand-in England skipper Ollie Pope.
It's also the first Test ton by an England wicketkeeper since Pope hit one against Pakistan in the Rawalpindi Test of December 2022.
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