Steve Smith is the 15th batter in Test history to reach 10,000-run mark.
Steve Smith, stand-in Australia captain on Sri Lanka Test tour, became the fourth batter from his country to complete 10,000 runs in Test cricket. He achieved the feat on day one of the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle on January 29, 2025.
Smith fell one run short of the 10000-run milestone at his home stadium in Sydney earlier this month in the fifth Border-Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 Test against India. Smith only needed 38 more runs in the Sydney Test against India to reach 10000 Test runs, but he was dismissed for 33 and 4.
He reached this significant milestone on the first ball of his innings in Australia's first innings in Galle. Smith hit left-arm spinner Prabath Jayasuriya on the leg side for a single, becoming only the fourth Australian batsman to reach 1,000 runs. He became the world's 15th batter to accomplish so.
Before Smith, the three Australian batsmen who reached the 10000-run landmark were Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting.
Smith has the best average among the top five Australian Test run scorers, at 55.86. He has 34 Test hundreds, the second most for Australia, trailing only Ricky Ponting's 41.
Smith is leading Australia on the test tour of Sri Lanka as Pat Cummins had opted out due to the birth of his child.
At lunch on day 1, Australia are 145/2. Openers Travis Head and Usman Khawaja belted half-centuries after Smith won the toss and elected to bat first.