Steve Smith enters elite club with 10,000th Test run

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Steve Smith enters elite club with 10,000th Test run

Steve Smith has written his name in the history books as only the fourth *********** to score 10,000 Test runs.

Having famously finished the recent home summer just one run short, Smith reached the milestone with a single to mid-on on day one of the series opener against Sri Lanka in Galle on Wednesday.

The *********** contingent of the crowd stood and applauded as Smith scampered home from the first ball he faced off Prabath Jayasuriya.

Smith smiled at the umpire, and raised his bat, first tentatively and then with clear satisfaction.

Only minutes later, Smith was dropped on one run by Jayasuriya, surviving to hold his place opposite Usman Khawaja at the crease.

He may have missed the chance to celebrate in front of friends and family after being caught behind on 4 at the SCG against India, but the significance of the milestone was not lost on Smith.

Smith is only the 15th player to reach 10,000 runs and fourth *********** behind former Test captains Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927).

“I probably thought about that a little bit too much in Sydney a few weeks back,” Smith said the day before play began against Sri Lanka.

“I’ve never really been one for milestones but to tick off 10,000 with those guys would be pretty special.”

Ponting appears destined to remain ahead of his countrymen for the foreseeable future; the Tasmanian superstar is second on the all-time rankings behind only India’s ‘Little Master’ Sachin Tendulkar (15,921)

Smith is also one of only two active Test players to have scored 10,000 runs, with former England captain Joe Root fifth on the all-time list with 12,972.

The next-most prolific active ***********, Usman Khawaja, has scored barely half as many as Smith.

Smith holds the distinction of holding the second-highest average (55.86 before play) of anyone to have reached the milestone, trailing only Sri Lanka legend Kumar Sangakkara (12,400 runs at 57.40).

Smith would undoubtedly have joined batting’s most elite club earlier in his career but for a year-long suspension handed down over his role in the Newlands ball-tampering scandal of 2018.

The 35-year-old has long been coy on his retirement plans but could nevertheless pass Waugh by the end of his career to become the third-most prolific Australia Test run-scorer of all time.

He is likely to overtake Pakistan middle-order maestro Younis Khan (10,099) and retired Indian opener Sunil Gavaskar (10,122) to finish the calendar year in 13th place on the rankings for most Test runs.

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