The promotion of Steve Smith to the top of the order for this week’s opening Test against the West Indies in Adelaide has improved his chances of breaking one of cricket’s most sought-after records.
Only 14 cricketers in history have accumulated 10,000 Test runs, with Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927) the only Australians in the club.
There are all kinds of statistics to pore over when debating the greatest Test batsmen of all time.
Donald Bradman’s average of 99.94 is peerless, but he didn’t play enough matches to pass 10,000 runs. Sachin Tendulkar’s career tally of 15,921 runs from 200 matches is top of the list and may never be beaten.
However, there is a magic number that Smith will be aiming at during the next few weeks: 195.
That’s the number of innings it took for the distinguished trio of Tendulkar, Brian Lara and Kumar Sangakkara to bring up their 10,000th run in the game’s longest format.
In 2008, Ponting made 158 against the West Indies in Jamaica to take his career tally to 9934 runs after 194 innings.
In the second innings of that match, Ponting needed 66 runs to equal that mark, but was dismissed for five. He then reached 10,000 runs in his 196th Test knock.
Smith, who boasts a career average of 58.01, could be on the cusp of greatness if he can make big totals against the Windies.
The 34-year-old has 9514 runs from 187 Test innings, leaving him 486 runs shy of the 10,000 run mark.
If Smith were to break the record – therefore achieving the mark in his 194th Test innings – he would need to make at least 69.4 runs per innings in his next seven visits to the crease.
That is easier said than done, considering Smith has compiled 248 runs from his past seven innings.
However Smith has posted an average score of 68.38 runs per innings against the West Indies and 54.07 against New Zealand.
By opening the batting, Smith will get maximum opportunities to chalk up the runs needed to go past Tendulkar, Lara and Sangakkara.
There is, however, an element of luck when it comes to breaking a record purely based on visits to the crease.
Smith faced just one ball in the second innings against Pakistan at the SCG, which made his record-breaking challenge a little more difficult.
It would be extremely unlikely for Smith to break the record against the West Indies, given he will have four innings at best in Adelaide and Brisbane.
However, Smith does have an outstanding record at home against the West Indies, plundering 469 runs from seven innings at an average of 156.33.
History shows it can be done, with Marnus Labuschagne making 502 runs in four innings against the West Indies across two Tests last summer.
Steve Smith ducks a bouncer in the SCG Test.Credit: Getty Images
Australia’s two-Test tour of New Zealand in February and March is a more realistic chance for Smith to break or equal the 195-innings record.
Smith could also break the record for the fewest matches played to reach 10,000 Test runs.
Lara got there in his 111th Test, ahead of Sangakkara (115) and Younis Khan (116).
The first Test against the West Indies will be Smith’s 106th match in a baggy green.
Smith effectively has five Tests – with a possible 10 innings – to get the 486 runs he needs for the record.
Lara made his world record score of 400 against England in his 106th Test.
It will have taken Smith, who made his debut in 2010, more than 13 years to reach the 10,000-run mark. Joe Root has done it faster than anyone, doing so in nine years and 171 days.
Across a decorated career, Smith has made 32 hundreds. He has made triple figures in 17.11 per cent of his Test innings.
None of the 14 players with 10,000 runs to their name have a better return. The closest is Sangakkara, with 38 hundreds from 233 innings (16.31 per cent).
Bradman sits top of the list (36.25 per cent), while New Zealand’s Kane Williamson actually has a superior century-per-innings record to Smith (17.26 per cent).
Smith needs another 20 centuries to go past Tendulkar’s record of 51. That would appear out of reach, unless Smith can make four a year for the next five seasons, or he continues playing past the age of 40.
He hasn’t scored more than three hundreds in a calendar year since 2017, when he carved out six centuries (1305 runs at 76.76).
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