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Twitter Hails Steve Smith's Century Against England On First Day Of Ashes

Smith reached a century in his first Test since a ban for ball-tampering.
Mike Egerton - PA Images via Getty Images

Australia’s Steve Smith is being hailed by former cricketers and on Twitter for his century against England on day one of the Ashes series. Smith, who was playing his first Test after completing a ban for his role in a ball-tampering scandal last year, made 144 runs.

Smith, who returned to Australia duty in the recent Cricket World Cup that England won, has been subjected to repeated jeers by the crowd during matches, according to AFP.

At Australia’s match with India in World Cup 2019, he was booed by Indian fans. Indian skipper Virat Kohli urged them to calm down and instead cheer his batting. Kohli later said he apologised to Smith on behalf of the fans.

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After his century on the first day of the Ashes series, he said there were times in the last 15 months where he didn’t know if he was ever going to play cricket.

“I lost a bit of love for it at one point, particularly when I had my elbow operation.

“It was really bizarre that it was the day I got the brace off my elbow, I found a love for it again,” he was quoted as saying by AFP.

“I don’t know what it was, it was like a trigger that just said ‘right I’m ready to go again, I want to play and I want to go out and play for Australia and make people proud and just do what I love doing’,” he added, according to the report.

Smith’s return has been hailed by Virender Sehwag:

VVS Laxman was also all praise for the Australian player:

Twitter is also loving Smith’s comeback. Here are a few reactions:

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.