After resuming on an overnight score of 68 not out, Smith went to score a brilliant 140 off 197. His innings was laced with 13 boundaries and three sixes as he moved level with greats Sunil Gavaskar and Brian Lara in the list of most Test centuries with his 34th ton.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
The 35-year-old Aussie is now tied for seventh place on the all-time list of century-makers, which is led by India's Sachin Tendulkar with 51 hundreds. Smith's effort at the MCG was his second century on the trot, following his innings of 101 against India during the third Test of this series at the Gabba.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"Sometimes you can be hitting the ball really nicely, which I think I said to all you guys when I wasn\u2019t scoring the runs. I actually felt like I was batting pretty well. And there\u2019s a difference between being out of form and out of runs. I thought I was hitting the ball nicely,\" Smith was quoted as saying at the day-end press conference.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I mean, you\u2019ve got to have faith. You\u2019ve got to have a bit of trust in what you\u2019re trying to do. I\u2019ve played the game for long enough now to know that you can have your ups and downs. Having some faith and confidence. There wasn\u2019t a real plan. It was just go out and play and see what\u2019s going on,\" he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
Smith, with valuable support from Pat Cummins (49) and Mitchell Starc (15) stitched stands of 112 and 44, respectively, and helped the hosts\u2019 take a formidable lead of 474 in the first innings.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
\"I mean, you\u2019ve got to have faith. You\u2019ve got to have a bit of trust in what you\u2019re trying to do. I\u2019ve played the game for long enough now to know that you can have your ups and downs. Having some faith and confidence. There wasn\u2019t a real plan. It was just go out and play and see what\u2019s going on,\" he said.<\/p>\r\n\r\n
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