Galle, January 29, 2025: Australia’s Steve Smith etched his name among cricket’s greats on Wednesday, becoming the 15th player—and fourth Australian—to surpass 10,000 Test runs.
Smith, who began the opening Test against Sri Lanka just one run shy of the milestone, reached the landmark on his very first ball, nudging a single off Prabath Jayasuriya in Galle. The stand-in skipper acknowledged the applause from the crowd with a raised bat.
“Fortunately, I hit that one in the gap, so it was nice to get that away,” the 35-year-old told Australia’s 7Cricket. “It’s a nice milestone to tick off.”
Smith now stands alongside Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, and Steve Waugh as the only Australians to achieve the feat. The all-time list is headed by India’s Sachin Tendulkar, who amassed 15,921 Test runs.
The first cricketer to cross 10,000 runs in Test cricket was India’s Sunil Gavaskar, who achieved the feat against Pakistan in Ahmedabad in 1987.
Leading Australia in the two-match Test series after regular skipper Pat Cummins opted out due to the birth of his second child, Smith boasts an average of over 55 in his 114-Test career, with 34 centuries since making his debut in 2010.
Having started as a leg-spinner batting at No. 8, Smith transformed into one of the game’s most dominant Test batters, at one point holding the No. 1 Test ranking.
He is widely regarded as a modern-day great, forming part of cricket’s famous “Fab Four” alongside India’s Virat Kohli, New Zealand’s Kane Williamson, and England’s Joe Root.
