Ricky Ponting, the former captain of Australia, says it would be hard for anyone to argue against Steve Smith owing to his figures; otherwise, according to him, Smith is worth being called the best player of his generation. A minute before lunch on day one of the first Test between Australia and Sri Lanka, Smith hit another pinnacle when he played a lovely flick to mid-on off the bowling of spinner Prabath Jayasuriya. He then raced back into the striker’s end for a single, which brought up his 10,000 Test runs and made him the fourth Australian after Ricky Ponting, Allan Border, and Steve Waugh to achieve the 10,000 mark in Tests.
Smith stood and took in the enjoyment of the travelling Australian crowd in Galle. He raised the bat to all corners of the ground in his incredible moment.
Entering his name into the annals of the game comes as very much welcomed good news for Ponting, who feels flamboyant batter Smith should be considered the greatest player of his generation.
For Ponting, Smith’s numbers have made him a remote candidate for the best player of his generation ahead of Virat Kohli, Kane Williamson, and Joe Root.
“Is he the best player of his generation? It’s hard to argue against it. Joe Root is the other one now, and [Kane] Williamson’s record is outstanding as well. Joe’s last couple of years have elevated him right back up there, I think,” the Seven commentator Ponting said as quoted from The Sydney Morning Herald.
“So, five or six years ago, with the emergence of this big four-Kohli being one of them-Joe is probably down at the bottom of that list, on that ranking, because he didn’t make so many hundreds like the other guys did; but he has scored 19 hundreds in the last four years.”
He is the fifth-fastest player to score 5,000 runs, in the ongoing fourteen hundred, behind only Brian Lara, Sachin Tendulkar, Kumar Sangakkara and Ponting.
While it is common for players to rack up enormous runs on home soil, Smith has proven himself to be an all-condition player. Almost half of his runs have come in overseas conditions, averaging a figure of 53.
Across 57 Tests away from home, Smith has notched up 5,084 runs, with an average of 53.51, inclusive of 17 centuries and 22 fifties, while his highest score is set at 215.
“If you asked an Englishman, they’d say Joe Root, if you asked an Aussie, they’d give you Steve Smith, and if you asked a Kiwi, they’d give you Kane Williamson. It’s a tough one, but when you look at it on numbers alone, it’s pretty hard to argue against what he’s done,” Ponting said in reference to the latest player to achieve the milestone.
During the final session, Smith raised his bat to bring up his 35th Test century. After punching the ball he set off to complete a sprinting three and add yet another feather to his cap.
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