Border, Waugh, Ponting: How Smith’s shock exit cancelled SCG 10,000 celebration

Australia’s first three scorers of 10,000 Test runs, Allan Border, Steve Waugh and Ricky Ponting, were to feature in a presentation to Steve Smith had he not been dismissed just one run short of the milestone at the SCG.

Border, Waugh and Ponting have all been in Sydney this week and were cued up twice in as many days to watch Smith join them in the most exclusive of Australian batting clubs before his two exits in a low-scoring clash.

Steve Smith falls one short of 10,000 Test runs.Credit: Getty Images

Cricket Australia had organised for the legendary trio to share the moment with Smith at the 35-year-old’s home ground, but he was surprised by extra bounce from Prasidh Krishna and glided a low catch to gully to be dismissed with 9999 career runs.

Border, the first to reach the mark for Australia in January 1993, had been on his way down to the boundary’s edge with Fox Cricket commentators in anticipation of Smith reaching the mark before lunch on day two.

Likewise, he was set to commentate the moment on day three, only for Smith to join Mahela Jayawardene as the only two players in Test history to be dismissed when seeking their 10,000th run.

“Yeah, the nervous 9990s,” captain Pat Cummins said after the game. “I think he was wanting to win the game. I think we all knew what we were playing for and how big it was, so I dare say more so the moment of wanting to be the matchwinner at the end, probably more so than the personal milestone.

“But it would’ve been nice for him to get it at the SCG.”

Smith’s failure to reach the mark at the SCG had some parallels with Border’s quest to break Sunil Gavaskar’s world mark of 10,122 runs 32 years ago.

Border had cruised to within 80 runs of passing Gavaskar after three Tests of five against the West Indies. But scores of 19, 1, 0 and 0 (his first pair of ducks in Tests) in the final two games in Adelaide and Perth left Border to go past Gavaskar away from home against New Zealand in Christchurch.

After his achievement of the record at Lancaster Park, Border’s autobiography was entitled Beyond 10,000.

Similarly, Smith will most likely go past 10,000 runs as Australia’s stand-in captain in Sri Lanka, at the lower profile venue of Galle.

“It’s a testimony to the hard work he’s put in,” Border told this masthead before the SCG Test.

“He’s not the bloke where you say to your son, ‘Here’s a technique you’ve got to follow’, but it’s worked for him, and that’s a good sign that you know your game. He’s done it so well, because it’s not a technique for everyone. He’s in the top echelon. There’s prettier players, but not many who’ve got that record.

Steve Smith fell one run short of his pursuit of 10,000 career runs.Credit: AP

“Averaging 57 or so is in the top echelon ever, if you take one certain bloke [Don Bradman] out of it, and he’s right up there with the very, very best. As far as Australia’s concerned, we’ve had Greg Chappell, Ricky Ponting, Steve Waugh, those sorts of players.

“But now Steve ranks equally with that group, no problems whatsoever. I’m a huge fan of [Sachin] Tendulkar and [Brian] Lara, they were phenomenally good cricketers, but Steve is definitely up with that lot, for sure.”

Major cricket milestones can sometimes be achieved with the serendipitous presence of the previous record-holder. In 1994, Lara’s 375, then the highest score made in Tests, was witnessed in Antigua by Sir Garfield Sobers, who had made the previous mark of 365.

But others can take longer than hoped. Shane Warne went wicketless at the SCG for the only time in his career against India in 2000 when he was six wickets short of passing Dennis Lillee’s then-Australian record of 355 victims. Like Border, he ultimately got there in New Zealand.

Gavaskar, meanwhile, was left surprised that he was not included in the presentation of the Border-Gavaskar Trophy: it had been customary for the two former captains to do so together.

“I’m not feeling sad, I’m just feeling a little perplexed,” he told the ABC. “Both of us should have been there.”

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