NEW DELHI: According to Australian batting maestro Steve Smith, who made history as the fourth Australian to reach 10,000 Test runs, one of the players from Marnus Labuschagne, Travis Head, and young sensation Sam Konstas may become the fifth Australian to accomplish the feat.
Along with Allan Border, Steve Waugh, and Ricky Ponting, the 35-year-old became the fourth Australian to reach 10,000 Test runs on Wednesday. He was only the fifteenth player to reach 10,000 men’s Test runs overall.
“It’s a good question. I think there’s a few people that can certainly tick it off. Marnus (Labuschagne) is about halfway there. Travis (Head) potentially. (Sam) Konstas is 19 and he could play for a long, long time potentially,” Smith told The Sydney Morning Herald.
Smith became the fastest of his Australian predecessors in terms of the number of matches played as he reached the milestone in his 115th Test match.
Smith (205 innings) easily outpaces Waugh (244 innings) and Border (235 innings) in terms of speed to the milestone, even though Ponting (196) reached it in fewer innings.
Smith said that shifting pitch conditions had made it more difficult to attain 10,000 Test runs. He pointed out that it is now harder for hitters to rack up huge runs in Australia because the conditions are more bowler-friendly.
“The stats suggest that all batting averages in Australia are coming down, and bowling averages are also declining. These wickets we’ve played on over the last three years have been tough, particularly for top-order players. You need a lot of luck to score big runs and get hundreds,” said Smith.
