Smith’s second century at Lord’s after his victorious 215 knockout in 2015 was also for statistics buffs.

He moved up to fourth on the Ashes cricket list with a score of 3,176, surpassing compatriot Steve Waugh (3,173). He became the fourth Australian to break the 9,000 Test runs mark in his career.

His century also made him the fastest batter to ever achieve 32 hundredth Test wins. He did it in 174 innings, beating Ricky Ponting (176 innings) and Sachin Tendulkar (179).

As former England batter Alastair Cook bluntly put it in an interview with the BBC: He’s a running machine.

Reaching the 110 mark, after Ben Duckett (England) mishandled the ball and crossed it into the gully, Smith slowly and with visible rage returned to the Lords Pavilion, batting away imaginary balls and ranting to himself.

But unlike in 2019, when he was booed after returning to the home of cricket due to a ban for his involvement in the ball tampering scandal, Smith left the field to the enthusiastic applause of the crowd in recognition of his services.

As BBC commentator Daniel Norcross said: He is the scourge of the English. He is a modern-day Bradman.