As Steve Smith is set to enter Test cricket’s 10,000-run club, here is a statistical rewind of his career. (AP)
Of the 13 other batsmen he is set to join in Test cricket’s coveted 10,000-run club, Steve Smith holds the unlikeliest story of having made it as far as he has.
The list shrinks to two if the discussion were to veer towards the most unconventional bats in the pantheon, with Guyanese bulwark Shivnarine Chanderpaul joining the New South Wales superstar.
None of the other Test run-machines have transitioned like Smith — or even had to bat at No.8 or 9 in their Test careers. Kumar Sangakkara (once at 8), Chanderpaul (once each at 9 and 11) and Sunil Gavaskar (once at No. 9) — the first to Mt. 10,000 — are few exceptions. Smith, the outlier, has transcended from being the potential successor to Australia’s greatest spin bowler to arguably its most prolific batter in the modern era within the last 12 summers.
Assuming a temporary role of opening the batting in 2024 may have even deprived him of becoming the quickest to 10,000. 195 innings remains the magic figure, nudged by Sachin Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Sangakkara.
Among Australia’s finest
Smith is still poised to be the fifth-fastest to the milestone, standing 38 runs away from the mark after 202 innings. And unlike his compatriots Ricky Ponting or Allan Border, Smith’s analytics have not left room for much improvement. Ponting’s Asian struggles, pronounced sharply in India (26.48 average) and Border’s sub-46 average at home are notable profiles that Smith has built on.
| Test career average breakdown | |||||
| Player | Inns | Runs | Ave | Home Ave | Away Ave |
| Sachin Tendulkar | 329 | 15921 | 53.78 | 52.67 | 54.74 |
| Ricky Ponting | 287 | 13378 | 51.85 | 56.97 | 46.4 |
| Jacques Kallis | 280 | 13289 | 55.37 | 56.73 | 53.91 |
| Rahul Dravid | 286 | 13288 | 52.31 | 51.35 | 53.03 |
| Joe Root | 278 | 12972 | 50.87 | 54.94 | 47.07 |
| Alastair Cook | 291 | 12472 | 45.35 | 44.37 | 46.48 |
| Kumar Sangakkara | 233 | 12400 | 57.4 | 60.44 | 54.07 |
| Brian Lara | 232 | 11953 | 52.88 | 58.65 | 47.8 |
| Shivnarine Chanderpaul | 280 | 11867 | 51.37 | 58.36 | 45.44 |
| Mahela Jayawardene | 252 | 11814 | 49.84 | 59.72 | 39.71 |
| Allan Border | 265 | 11174 | 50.56 | 45.94 | 56.57 |
| Steve Waugh | 260 | 10927 | 51.06 | 47.58 | 55.5 |
| Sunil Gavaskar | 214 | 10122 | 51.12 | 50.16 | 52.11 |
| Younis Khan | 213 | 10099 | 52.05 | 59.31 | 50.62 |
| Steve Smith | 202 | 9962 | 56.28 | 60.7 | 52.46 |
Approaching 5,000 Test runs in Australia, Smith’s average (60.71) has not been bettered by any of the five batters who have scored as many Test runs in the country. With an almost equal spread away from home, only Border and Waugh have acquired a better average than Smith (52.46) for as many runs.
Keeping the legendary Don Bradman aside, Smith has already vaunted into the top 3 Aussie batsmen of all-time, with Ponting’s career haul of runs (13,378) and tons (41) being the only major records left in his path.
1st innings master
No batter in Test history has plundered runs quite like Smith has in his prime. After playing the first 10 innings of his career at No. 6-9, Smith marked his return to the Aussie Test side as a designated middle-order bat, starting in India in 2013. His first innings at No. 5 was a 185-ball 92 in Mohali. While he had settled in with a few reputable knocks, it was not until 2014 that Smith began his world domination.
Starting his 32nd innings against England with a 154-ball 115 in Sydney in the 2014 New Year’s Test, Smith amassed 6,257 runs over 100 consecutive innings at a 71.92 average. The peak is undisputed in Test history and bore 24 centuries over a six-year period that ended in January 2020.
His range of hundreds in this period also acts as a microcosm in encapsulating the typical Smith trait of Test match-batting – setting up games with first-innings hundreds.
| Steve Smith | Inns | Runs | HS | Avg | 100s | 50s |
| 1st innings | 67 | 5016 | 215 | 83.6 | 24 | 11 |
| 2nd innings | 45 | 2127 | 239 | 49.46 | 6 | 11 |
| 3rd innings | 60 | 2037 | 142 | 40.74 | 4 | 13 |
| 4th innings | 30 | 782 | 97 | 32.58 | 0 | 6 |
That his yields diminish as a Test progresses is probably the only blemish in his record. But the 34-year-old makes up for it with a stupendous first-innings record. Over 50 per cent of Smith’s career runs have come in the first innings (5034) at a whopping 83.60 average.
24 of Smith’s 34 Test hundreds have come in the first innings of the match – the most for any batter. Among these, 15 belong to his true peak period between innings 32-131.
For context, Smith’s aggregates are yet to breach the top-50 mark for the second and fourth innings in Tests. His 2034 runs at 40.7 in the third innings are 28th on the all-time charts.
All condition superstar
| Inns | Runs | HS | Ave | BF | SR | 100 | 50 |
| After 50 innings | 2304 | 192 | 52.36 | 4197 | 54.89 | 8 | 10 |
| After 100 innings | 5251 | 215 | 61.05 | 9227 | 56.9 | 20 | 20 |
| After 151 innings | 8010 | 239 | 59.77 | 14804 | 54.1 | 27 | 36 |
| At 202 innings | 9962 | 239 | 56.28 | 18605 | 53.54 | 34 | 41 |
Despite his quirky methods and his extreme reliability on his hands to find their place behind the ball, Smith has dominated almost every condition where he has had a decent hit in, say seven innings. Coupled with his consistency and longevity of success, Smith’s all-condition quality has separated him from the rest of the ‘Fab’ 4 and other active Test batters.
Returning to his primary slot at No.4 for the Border-Gavaskar Trophy series last month, Smith ended the longest-century drought of his career, spanning 18 months and 24 innings, in Brisbane before notching up his 34th ton in the Boxing Day Test. No batter has troubled India with Test centuries more often than Smith’s 11 centuries since 2014.
India will sense ominous signs in Sydney too. If all bodes well for the hosts again, Smith’s milestone 10,000th run could also venture him to century No.35 at a ground where he has recorded over 1,000 runs, with two of his four centuries dampening India’s previous New Year processions.
I’m Manas Ranjan Sahoo: Founder of “Webtirety Software”. I’m a Full-time Software Professional and an aspiring entrepreneur, dedicated to growing this platform as large as possible. I love to Write Blogs on Software, Mobile applications, Web Technology, eCommerce, SEO, and about My experience with Life.
