Smith's 27th toasted at Guyanese welcome function

Birthday boy Steve Smith will rewrite plenty of records before his cricketing time is up if his current statistics are an accurate form guide.

Smith, Australia's captain in all three formats, turns 27 today, and after a chequered introduction to the big time in his formative years, the mid-twenties have most definitely agreed with him.

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With a full year in front of him as a 27-year-old, he is already equal-sixth in terms of most Test centuries scored before turning 28.

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It's a list that reads like a who's who of Test cricket legends: India's 'Little Master' Sachin Tendulkar (25), recent entrant to the 10,000 club, Englishman Alastair Cook (23), record-breaking former Proteas skipper Graeme Smith (18), Aussie Invincibles Don Bradman and Neil Harvey (15 apiece), Aussie runs-record holder Ricky Ponting and West Indian giant Sir Garfield Sobers (level with Smith on 14).

Smith will have ample opportunity to shuffle his name higher up on that list, and looks likely to become the most successful Australian century-maker under the age of 28; quite remarkable considering he didn't have a single one when he turned 24.

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The New South Welshman was 24 and a couple of months when he scored his maiden hundred, in his 12th Test – the final match of the 2013 Ashes in England.

In 29 since, he's added another 13.

Across the next 12 months, Australia play at least 13 Test matches: three in Sri Lanka in July-August, six at home to Pakistan (three) and South Africa (three), and four in India next February-March.

At his current rate of slightly better than one century every three matches, the unorthodox right-hander could realistically add four more to his name, taking his tally to 18, level with Smith and well clear of any of his compatriots.

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And it's not merely in terms of hundreds scored that Smith has the potential to scale some lofty heights.

His current batting average of 60.18 is the sixth-highest of all time and the ninth-highest among players before their 28th birthdays (though of the eight players above him, top-ranked Bradman's 28 matches are the most anyone had played at that point in their careers, compared with Smith's 41).

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And though still in his beginning years as captain, he is yet to taste defeat in 11 Tests as captain, with seven wins and four draws.

Smith would need to go another nine Test matches for the longest unbeaten run to begin a captaincy career – England's Ray Illingworth managed it for 19 matches from 1969 to 1971.

That would include the away series in Sri Lanka as well as the home series against Pakistan and South Africa this summer; entirely feasible given the Lankans' recent diabolical form, as well as Pakistan's inconsistency outside the UAE and the Proteas' sudden decline in 2015-16.

For now however, the Australia captain, who withdrew from his IPL campaign with Rising Pune Supergiants due to a wrist injury, has an ODI tri-series in the Caribbean to worry about, and blowing out the candles on birthday cake number 27.