Galle, January 29: Former cricketer David Warner on Wednesday showered praise on top Australia batter Steve Smith and called him an "amazing" cricket player.
Smith made history on Wednesday, scoring his 35th Test century and also becoming only the fourth Australia batter to touch the 10,000 run mark in Tests. He achieved this durng the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle.
Reaching the 10,000 Test run mark is a memorable chapter of Smith's illustrious Test career, during which he has displayed determination and consistency.
Warner joked and said that Smith has cricket ball sandwiches.
"He is an absolutely amazing cricket player and he just works hard. He literally has cricket ball sandwiches. Early in his career, he would be the first in the nets and the last in the nets. You just knew when Steve was hitting a lot of balls, he was on. It is not by fluke that he is still playing," Warner was quoted by Fox Cricket as saying.
The former cricketer also hailed Smith for his tenacity.
"His tenacity to bat long periods of time and get himself in and score runs for the team is amazing. Being up the other end and watching him do it with ease and have so much time, you then go back and (think), 'If I hit that many balls, would I have that much time?'. I don't think so. But it is his natural knack and ability to do that and churn our hundreds for fun and lots of runs for Australia," he added.
Smith ended the first day of the Galle Test unbeaten at 104* in 188 balls, with 10 fours and a six, involved in a 195-run partnership with Usman Khawaja (147* in 210 balls, with 10 fours and a six). Earlier, Australia had opted to bat first after winning the toss. Travis Head (57 in 40 balls, with 10 fours and a six) opened the innings with Khawaja and had a 92-run opening stand. Marnus Labuschagne (20 in 50 balls, with two fours) also contributed some runs before Smith and Khawaja joined forces and took Australia to 330/2 at the end of day one.
In 115 Tests and 205 innings, Smith has scored 10,103 runs at an average of 56.44. He has scored 35 centuries and 41 fifties, with the best score of 239.
He is the fourth Australian after Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927) to reach the 10,000 run mark and overall 15th player ever.
With 35 Test centuries, Smith has overtaken the likes of Younis Khan (Pakistan), Brian Lara (West Indies), Mahela Jayawardene (Sri Lanka) and Sunil Gavaskar (India), who all have 34 Tests each.
In the ongoing ICC World Test Championship, Smith has scored 1,156 runs at an average of 38.53, with four centuries and four fifties in 34 innings. His best score is 140. He is the seventh-highest run-getter so far in the competition and Australia's top run-getter.
