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Steve Smith becomes the fourth Australian batter after Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting to join the 10,000 Test runs milestone.
Steve Smith became the 15th men’s Test cricketer and fourth Australian to reach 10,000 runs. (X)
Australia’s Steve Smith joined the likes of Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh when the Sydney-born batter went on to reach the 10,000 Test runs milestone during Day 1 of the opening Test against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday.
After missing out on the milestone in the Border-Gavaskar Trophy earlier, the 35-year-old made sure to not make the same mistake as he took a single off the first ball he faced against Sri Lanka’s Prabath Jayasuriya.
Smith now becomes the fourth Australian batter and 15th overall to the milestone. He is also the fifth fastest to 10,000 Test runs, going past the legendary Rahul Dravid by one inning as well. Another coincidence is that the four Australians who had reached the quintuple-figure mark had all been captains of the team in their respective times.
Smith has come a long way. From being touted as the next big leg-spinner after the legendary Shane Warne, he ended up being known for his batting, chasing records set by Don Bradman instead. It’s not every day that you can see such seamless transitions in the game of cricket. He worked his way up with performances in the middle-order and with the added responsibility of captaincy, he took his game up a notch.
| Fastest To 10,000 Test Runs (Overall) | ||||
| Rank | Name | Team | Matches | Innings |
| 1 | Brian Lara | West Indies | 111 | 195 |
| 2 | Sachin Tendulkar | India | 122 | 195 |
| 3 | Kumar sangakkara | Sri Lanka | 115 | 195 |
| 4 | Ricky Ponting | Australia | 118 | 196 |
| 5 | Steve Smith | Australia | 115 | 205 |
| 6 | Rahul Dravid | India | 120 | 206 |
| 7 | Younis Khan | Pakistan | 116 | 208 |
| 8 | Mahela Jayawarde | Sri Lanka | 127 | 210 |
| 9 | Sunil Gavaskar | India | 124 | 212 |
| 10 | Jacques Kallis | South Africa | 129 | 217 |
| 11 | Joe Root | England | 118 | 218 |
| 12 | Alastair Cook | England | 128 | 229 |
| 13 | Allan border | Australia | 136 | 235 |
| 14 | Shivnarine Chanderpaul | West Indies | 140 | 239 |
| 15 | Steve Waugh | Australia | 156 | 244 |
Barring the sandpaper-gate, his darkest moment, Smith has shown that setbacks don’t tend to keep him down for long. He has proved time and again why he is an indispensable member of the Australian batting unit that went on to dominate the world stage across the 50-over and Test formats.
Amongst the Fab 4 (Virat Kohli, Steve Smith, Kane Williamson and Joe Root), Smith becomes the second batter after Root to reach the 10,000 run mark, which is a testament to his batsmanship through the years.
Smith will hope to make his day a special one as he eyes a big knock against the Sri Lankan team. Usman Khawaja and Travis Head gave the side the perfect platform for a big score as the opening pair set up a 92-run stand with Head getting a quickfire fifty. Khawaja remains unbeaten with Smith and the two could look for a big score to keep the Aussies ahead.
