Star batsman Steve Smith on Saturday became the fastest man to score 7,000 Test runs, shattering a record that had stood since 1946, while moving past Donald Bradman to become Australia’s 11th highest scorer.

Steve, 30, took a single off Muhammad Musa during the second Test against Pakistan in Adelaide to reach the milestone and take possession of a record held for 73 years by English great Wally Hammond.

Hammond reached the mark in 131 innings, while Smith, who played his first Test nine years ago, made the grade in his 126th.

India´s Virender Sehwag is the third fastest in 134 innings.

“The fastest to 7K – you´re a star Steve Smith!,” tweeted Cricket Australia.

Another record broken for the outstanding Steve Smith! @Domaincomau | #AUSvPAK pic.twitter.com/pjmEKY7BKk

— cricket.com.au (@cricketcomau) November 30, 2019

Smith also passed the legendary Bradman´s 6,996 Test runs. It took Smith 70 Tests to do so, while Bradman needed only 52.

Smith´s heroics at the Ashes in England this year saw him widely labelled the best since Bradman, considered Test cricket´s greatest ever, when he scored a mammoth 774 runs in just seven innings.

“I always punish myself when I get no runs, just like I reward myself when I score runs with a chocolate bar at the end of the night if I get a hundred,” he said.

“So yeah, if I get no runs I always like to have a run or go to the gym or do something just to give myself a bit of a punishment.”

Steven Peter Devereux Smith is an Australian international cricketer and former captain of the Australian national team.

On 30 December 2017, he reached a Test batting rating of 947, the second-highest of all time, only behind Don Bradman’s 961.