Australia came into the fifth and final Test of the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT 2024-25) with a lead of 2-1 margin, but the focus was on their former captain, Steve Smith, who was on the cusp of claiming 10000 runs in the longest format of the game at his home ground in the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG). The spicy surface for this summer’s final red-ball fixture didn’t help him in that aspect.
On the second day of the Pink Tests, Steve Smith walked out to bat for the team’s score, being on 15/2 in the seventh over as the fired-up captain of the Indian side, the premier pacer Jasprit Bumrah, had already dismissed the first batter of the line-up. The right-handed batter had a smooth start in the innings.
He pulled the pacer, Prasidh Krishna, for a six over square leg before driving the Karnataka pacer for a boundary through covers. He was taking a few constant singles and doubles to put pressure on the bowlers as he smashed 33 runs in 57 deliveries with the help of four boundaries and one six at the strike rate of nearly 60.
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Steve Smith then, edged the ball from Krishna into the hands of the second slip fielder, KL Rahul. When India set a target of 162 runs in the fourth innings, the New South Wales batter had another chance to make it to the club.
Steve Smith falls one short of landmark 10000 Test runs
On the consecutive day, he fell agonizingly shot of reaching the 10000-run landmark. He edged the ball from Krishna into the hands of Yashasvi Jaiswal on five at the gully region. It broke the expectation of the crowd approaching 40000 for the Jane McGrath Day of the New Year’s Test.
Steve Smith became the second batter after the former Sri Lankan captain and top order batter, Mahela Jayawardene, to fall on 9999 Test runs. That batter was dismissed against South Africa when he was running out by the former all-rounder of the South African side, Jacques Henry Kallis.
Steve Smith will now have to wait till the opening Test of the two-match series against Sri Lanka in Galle later this month for the next opportunity to become the 15th batter to join the 10,000 club. The batter now has 9999 red-ball runs in 204 innings at an average of 55.86 and a strike rate of 53.35, with the help of 34 centuries and 41 half-centuries at the best score of 239 against England.
“Averaging 57 or so is in the top echelon ever, if you take one certain bloke (Bradman) out of it, and he’s right up there with the very, very best. As far as Australia’s concerned, we’ve had Greg Chappell, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, those sorts of players.” Allan Border expressed it to Nine newspapers.
“But now Steve Smith ranks equally with that group, no problems whatsoever. I’m a huge fan of Tendulkar and Lara, and they were phenomenally good cricketers, but Steve is definitely up with that lot, for sure.” The former Australian captain highlighted.
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It has felt like a run-scoring fat that he was destined to achieve. The 35-year-old was the fastest to 8000 Test runs and second fastest to the 9000 mark. The final club to the summit has taken longer for him thanks to a struggling 2023-25 season following the retirement of the former left-handed opening batter, David Warner.
Steve Smith finishes the Border Gavaskar Trophy (BGT) 2024-25 with the help of 314 runs in nine innings at an average of 34.88 and a strike rate of 54.99 with the help of two half-centuries and one century.