Steve Smith has done it.
Having finished the home summer stranded on 9,999 Test runs, the acting captain took no time at all to reach the magical 10,000 mark on Day 1 in Galle, knocking a quick single through to mid-on to spark joyous scenes from the Australian contingent of spectators.
Smith becomes the fourth Australian to reach the mark, joining Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting in the exclusive club; while only Brian Lara, Kumar Sangakkara and Ponting have reached the mark in fewer innings.
Commentating on Seven, Ponting wasn’t surprised at how quickly Smith reached the milestone.
“I thought he might try and get it off the first ball that he actually faced!” he laughed.
“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 – but you look around this ground here in Galle, there are a lot of Aussies there that have flown out just to witness that moment.
“Fantastic. Magnificent achievement.”
Smith celebrated only with a muted raise of the bat and a hug with Usman Khawaja, and nearly fell without adding to his total a few balls later when Sri Lankan spinner Prabath Jayasuriya dropped a tough return chance.
Speaking to Seven at the lunch break, Smith said it was ‘nice’ to reach the milestone, but that he had already put it out of his mind.
“I’m just trying to focus on batting, to be honest,” he said.
Ponting’s fear over Konstas omission as debutant confirmed
Australia have locked in their XI for the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle, with Josh Inglis making his Test debut at the expense of Sam Konstas and three specialist spin bowlers picked.
As had already been suspected, Inglis was presented with his maiden baggy green cap on Wednesday morning in Galle, while Matt Kuhnemann and Todd Murphy were both selected alongside Nathan Lyon, with no room for Scott Boland.
It means, remarkably, the much-loved Victorian has been dropped for the sixth time in his Test career, despite being named Player of the Match in Australia’s fifth Test win over India at the SCG after taking ten wickets for the match.
Australia won the toss and elected to bat in Galle, with acting captain Steve Smith set to get an early opportunity to score the single he needs to reach 10,000 Test runs.
“He’s [Inglis] been banging the door down in Shield cricket, and done a terrific job,” Smith said of the Western Australian, who was selected in Australia’s Test squad for the start of the summer before injury struck, and who was part of the team’s ODI World Cup triumph in 2023 as wicketkeeper.
However, speaking on Seven, former great Ricky Ponting wasn’t convinced the decision to axe Konstas, who dazzled in his first two Tests against India, is the right one.
“I don’t like it, to be honest,” Ponting said.
“I just expected that Konstas would play and would open the batting.
“In two Test matches’ time, they play in the World Test Championship [final] in England, and Konstas is going to be straight back into the side.
“We’ve seen Travis Head open the batting in the subcontinent before, and do very well – no doubt he’ll look to get Australia off to a bit of a flyer.
“But I think there’s a real missed opportunity for the Australians here to get to learn a bit more about Sam Konstas.
“If he’s the player that we all think he is, I would have loved to have seen him work out a way to play spin in tough conditions in Sri Lanka.”
However, Ponting had to admit the move ‘worked exactly the way they [Australia] would have wanted’ after Head crunched ten fours and a six in a whirlwind 57 off just 40 balls before holing out, helping put on 92 with Khawaja for the first wicket.
Australia made three changes from the team that defeated India at the SCG, with Inglis, Kuhnemann and Murphy in for the omitted Konstas and Boland, while captain Pat Cummins has remained at home awaiting the birth of his second child.
‘No stress, mate’: Konstas takes Test omission in stride
Sam Konstas has shown his character with a classy response to being dropped for the first Test against Sri Lanka, says Cricket Australia selector Tony Dodemaide.
Dodemaide stopped short of guaranteeing Konstas would reclaim his opening spot for the home Ashes this summer but insisted the star teenager remained part of succession plans for an ageing Australian squad.
Australia cited Travis Head’s form as an opener on the last subcontinent tour in 2023 for the “difficult” decision to oust Konstas from the top of the order in Galle.
Konstas turned heads with his aggressive approach in his first two Tests to help seal a rare series victory over India, but has not toured the subcontinent before.
The 19-year-old was seen congratulating Josh Inglis’s family as the previously uncapped West Australian took his spot in the XI for the first of two Tests in Galle.
After being told he would be dropped, Konstas offered to arrive at the ground early for day one on Wednesday to help with preparations.
“There’s a lot to like and be impressed about Sam,” Dodemaide said.
Sam Konstas takes a swing at the SCG. (Photo by Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
“One of the things is his ability to take things in his stride. It’s remarkable really, whether it’s playing in front of 90,000 and Jasprit Bumrah at the MCG or getting told that you’re left out of the Test.
“He was like, ‘Oh yeah mate, no stress. I get it’.”
Konstas memorably slapped the world’s best paceman Bumrah around the ground in Melbourne as he scored a half-century in his first Test dig on Boxing Day.
He then partnered with Usman Khawaja to ignite the series-winning run chase at the SCG.
But Dodemaide would not guarantee Konstas would be able to reprise his heroics during the next home series, with two Sri Lanka Tests, the World Test Championship final and a West Indies tour to play out before then.
“We won’t pre-empt what’s happening there,” Dodemaide said.
“But clearly he’s done a lot right hasn’t he?
“We’re looking for those successor players to come in, there will be some turnover naturally in the next couple of years or so and he’s very much staked a claim.”
Selectors will also not rule out Konstas returning to the XI in the second and final Sri Lanka Test, pending the result in the first.
“He’s a hugely talented player, hasn’t played a lot in this part of the world but he’ll learn quickly obviously,” Dodemaide said.
“The opportunity to have him here, not to say that Test two is out of the question obviously depending on what happens here, but the opportunity to give Nathan McSweeney, Cooper Connolly and even now Ollie Peake (a chance to tour the subcontinent) is an investment in the future.”
The call to drop Konstas sparked criticism from Australia’s most prolific Test runscorer Ricky Ponting, who had previously called for him to retain his spot.
“There is a real missed opportunity for the Australians here to get to learn a bit more about Sam Konstas,” the legendary former Test captain said on Channel 7.
“If he is the player we all think he is, I would have loved to have seen him work out a way to play spin in tough conditions in Sri Lanka over the next couple of weeks.”
Dodemaide said Australia needed to prioritise a first series win in Sri Lanka since 2011 even if the side had already qualified for the WTC final.
“A lot of the narrative has been around this tour doesn’t matter. It really does, it’s Test cricket. That’s our priority,” he said.
(AAP)