Former Australian Test captain Kim Hughes says Steve Smith may be the last Australian to climb the run mountain

Steve Smith was just the fourth Australian to have scored 10,000 Test runs. A former skipper is uncertain whether there will be a fifth.

Will Steve Smith be the last Australian batsman to make 10,000 Test runs?

Don’t write it off, says former Test batsman Kim Hughes who watched Smith pass 10,000 runs when he got off the mark in the first Test against Sri Lanka in Galle.

Only four Australians (Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh are the others) have done it and Hughes isn’t sure of where the next man is coming from - or even whether there will be a next man.

“Smith could be one of the last, if not the last to do it,’’ Hughes said.

“There are so many distractions these days with T20 cricket and the way the Test schedules are.

“I mean when you think of scoring 10,000 runs you don’t think of even say Travis Head and he has been going really well.

“You are looking at someone who would have to start in his early 20s and then go through to his mid-30s and be in the team for nearly all of that time.

Kim Hughes believes Steve Smith may be the last Australian to pass 10000 Test runs. Picture: Robert Cianflone/Getty Images)

“That is a long career and I don’t think that will happen because there will be too many other side attractions.

“When you have got other money available in T20 leagues you are going to have blokes say I would love to play Tests against England, India and South Africa and maybe New Zealand but after that ... jeepers.’’

The 10,000 run milestone is so treasured that Border called his autobiography Beyond 10,000.

Former umpire Tony Crafter this week recalled a story of getting a signed copy of the book in which Border cheekily wrote the message “if it wasn’t for you this would be called Beyond 11,000.’’

The debate over who is Australia’s best batsman since Bradman was reignited by Smith’s milestone with each of the champions having their merits.

Ponting scored most runs and most centuries and did it with rare flair and panache.

Kim Hughes pictured with Greg Chappell in their playing days. Chappell wins Hughes’ vote for the most elegant batsman he’s seen.

Border carried a weak team for half a decade and had to face the toughest era of fast bowling including West Indian greats Malcolm Marshall, Andy Roberts, Colin Croft and Joe Garner.

Smith, at his best a decade ago, handed in arguably the hottest streak of all of them when he averaged 70-plus three years in a row.

Serene Greg Chappell still wins the vote for elegance while Matt Hayden’s 30 centuries for 103 Tests as an opening batsman put’s him high on Border’s list who points out “it’s never easy for opening batsman and I always felt Hayden had an exceptional career.’’

Sri Lanka handed in an improved performance on the first day of the second Test but their abject performance in the first Test against Australia, also in Galle, left Hughes pondering the two-toned world Test cricket is living in with the euphoria of a glorious Australia-India series being replaced by small crowds, an average deck and a meek performance by the home side.

“In the first Test there was virtually no-one there on the first day. I thought they would be hanging from the chandeliers. If that is Test cricket in Sri Lanka you might as well go play in Antarctica.’’

Originally published as Former Australian Test captain Kim Hughes says Steve Smith may be the last Australian to climb the run mountain