Australia's stand-in captain, Steve Smith, reached a significant milestone by scoring 10,000 runs in Test cricket during the first Test against Sri Lanka at the Galle International Stadium on Wednesday. This achievement places him among an elite group of only 15 players in the history of the game, according to the ICC's official website.
Having missed the opportunity to achieve this feat in his hometown of Sydney during the recent Border-Gavaskar Trophy series, Smith celebrated the milestone in Galle. He executed his trademark flick shot towards mid-on, took a single, and then raised his bat to acknowledge the cheers from the crowd.
The Australian team responded with an enthusiastic ovation for their captain.
With this run, Smith advanced the score to 137/2, contributing to a solid start for Australia after they won the toss and opted to bat.
At 35 years old, Smith has amassed his runs at an impressive average exceeding 55, with only Kumar Sangakkara boasting a superior average (57.40) among those who have crossed the 10,000-run mark. He is now the fifth-fastest player to reach this milestone in terms of innings played.
Smith joins the ranks of Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting as the fourth Australian to achieve this landmark.
Earlier in the day, Smith won the toss and chose to bat first against Sri Lanka.
Josh Inglis is set to make his Test debut, having been included in the playing XI for this opening match of the series. Both teams have opted for three spinners and one fast bowler in their line-ups.
Teams:
Australia (Playing XI): Usman Khawaja, Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Steven Smith (c), Josh Inglis, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Mitchell Starc, Matthew Kuhnemann, Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy.
Sri Lanka (Playing XI): Dimuth Karunaratne, Oshada Fernando, Dinesh Chandimal, Angelo Mathews, Kamindu Mendis, Dhananjaya de Silva (c), Kusal Mendis (wk), Prabath Jayasuriya, Nishan Peiris, Jeffrey Vandersay, Asitha Fernando.
