London - Proteas captain Graeme Smith became only the seventh player in cricket history to score a hundred in his 100th Test match when he reached three figures against England shortly before lunch on the third day of the first Test at The Oval here on Saturday.
It took Smith 160 balls to reach his fifty, which came in the last over before the mid-morning drinks break. But the scoring rate picked up markedly as he raced to his century off 201 balls, hitting 16 fours, taking just 41 deliveries to notch his second half-century.
Australia great Ricky Ponting made two hundreds in his 100th Test, against South Africa at Sydney in 2006.
The complete list is as follows (player, runs, team, opposition, year):
Colin Cowdrey 104 England v Australia Birmingham 1968
Javed Miandad 145 Pakistan v India Lahore 1989
Gordon Greenidge 149 West Indies v England St John's 1990
Alec Stewart 105 England v West Indies Manchester 2000
Inzamam-ul-Haq 184 Pakistan v India Bangalore 2005
Ricky Ponting 120 Australia v South Africa Sydney 2006
Ricky Ponting 143 no Australia v South Africa Sydney 2006
Graeme Smith 103 no South Africa v England The Oval 2012
Note: Smith's innings is still in progress