Steve Smith becomes fourth Australian to reach 10,000 Test runs and cement legend status

Steve Smith has become just the fourth Australian and 15th cricketer ever to score 10,000 runs in Test cricket.

And the Aussie star sealed the milestone in the history books with a magical century, joining Usman Khawaja’s 16th Test ton with his 35th and second in Galle.

The former Australian captain, who remarkably debuted as a leg-spinning lower-order batter, joined countrymen Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh at the 10,000-run mark.

He needed 38 in his first innings at the Sydney Cricket Ground during the Border-Gavaskar finale against India before being dismissed twice in the nervous 9,990’s, joining West Indian legend Brian Lara as the only other player to do so.

It meant his moment would come in foreign surroundings, but the remarkable achievement was no less significant for a man who carried the Australian cricket team for the best part of the 2010s.

After Travis Head and Khawaja got the visitors off to a flyer in Galle on Wednesday, Smith found himself at the wicket just five minutes before the lunch break after Marnus Labuschagne nicked off to leggie Jeffrey Vandersay for 20.

However, the middle-order run-machine had no intention of leaving the milestone until after the break, using his feet to punch his first ball to mid-on for the quickest of singles.

Smith brushed off the emotion, telling Channel 7 he was “just trying to focus on batting at the moment”.

“It was nice to tick that off,” he said.

He and Khawaja embraced in the middle of the wicket afterwards in what was much more low-key than it could have been in front of his adoring home fans in Sydney.

However, Smith was lucky not to be heading into lunch as the third wicket after chipping bowler Prabath Jayasuriya the easiest of catches, which the spinner grassed.

Fellow 10,000-run club member and former Test captain Ponting said it was a historic moment, bringing Australian fans all the way to Sri Lanka just to bear witness.

“This a moment in cricketing history, isn’t it? Steve Smith, 10,000 Test runs. Might have been a slightly grander stage if it was brought up a couple of weeks ago in front of his home crowd at the SCG,” he said on commentary for Channel 7 and 7Plus.

“But, you look around this ground in Galle there are a lot of Aussies there who have flown out just to witness that moment. Fantastic. Magnificent achievement for the Australian number four and current captain of this side.”

Smith’s runs have come at an average of 56.44, with 34 centuries and 41 half centuries.

His 35th century was one of ultimate ease after the dropped catch, patience a feature as he punish anything loose and out batted the bowling.

The 35-year-old reached the milestone with a classy back-foot punch through the covers for three.

Smith’s knock will return some of the fear he once inspired in oppositions, the 115-Test veteran appearing as strong as ever.

Earlier on the opening morning, Head blasted his way to 57 off 40 and feasted on the bowling of Sri Lankan opener Asitha Fernando, whose first three overs went for 28 runs.

The South Australian enforcer cracked 10 boundaries before he was caught at long-on off the bowling of Prabath Jayasuriya.

Smith said conditions had been trickier than they looked.

“(There is a) bit of spin, a bit of skid as well. I thought the guys played really nicely that first session. It’s pretty humid, I’m probably due for a glove change and I’ve faced about five balls,” he said.

Khawaja went into the long break unbeaten on 65 but used his reverse sweep to perfection to silence doubters and reach an important three figures after a lean home summer against Jasprit Bumrah.