Ex-Australian spinner says Smith was "born a cricketer", reminisces getting first glimpse of his "hand-eye coordination"

January 29, 2025, will go as one of the most significant dates in Australian cricket and world cricket history in general as Smith once hailed as a prodigious successor to the late, great Shane Warne, completed his 10,000 runs in Test cricket, becoming only fourth Australian batter and overall 15th player to do so, during the first Test against Sri Lanka at Galle.

Speaking on Fox Cricket, Kerry reminisced on watching Smith's "flawed" leg spin action which resulted in some "filth" deliveries and also his hand-eye coordination which proved to Keeffe that Smith was more than a "useful late-order hitter".

"I have never seen the like. I remember Steve Smith when he was a teenager and he bowled these wristy leg spinners with a flawed action. His mechanics, he admitted, weren't great. He just had to time the release. And some were jaffas and some were filth," O'Keeffe said.

"But then somebody said, 'Now you have bowled a few Steve, do you want to have a hit?'. He said, 'Yeah, I will have a hit.' And then I saw what he did with that hand-eye coordination and I thought, 'Nup. He bats'."

"And I know when he first went out for Australia in England, I was doing ABC Radio and he hit a lot of fours in the losing cause, and they said, 'He is not much of a leggy, but he is a useful late order hitter,'. I said, 'I think he's better than that," he added.

Keeffe recalled that Smith had the capacity to hit boundaries from "impossible positions" like only greats of the game could and was a fine reader of bowlers.

"He was born a cricketer, and I have seen him take spinners apart in the nets when I had something to do with developing spinners, and he just crucified them."

"He ran at them, he went back, he played with their heads. And I said 'This bloke, I do not know what he will end up averaging in Test cricket, but he is going to slaughter some slow bowlers over the years'. And so it has come to pass," he added.

Keeffe placed Smith as the number three batter in his "best-ever Australian team, alongside openers Matthew Hayden and Bobby Simpson, Greg Chappell at number four, Michael Clarke at number five, Steve Waugh at number six and wicketkeeper-batter Adam Gilchrist at number seven.

"The primary position goes to Steve Smith because his average is so high at three (67.07 in 17 Tests with eight centuries), (and while) the average is high at four (61.18), I think it is the highest average of any Australian Test player batting at that number. So if I am picking on stats, I have got 'Smudge' going in at first drop," he added.

Having experienced Smith bounce back from so many adversities in his career, just when it seemed his footwork and hand-eye coordination had declined, O'Keeffe would not be surprised to see the batter keep piling on runs as he moves to his late 30s in age.

"He is in the twilight, of course, but it's very dangerous to underestimate Steve Smith. He proves people wrong," he said.

"And he has the best psyche I think of any cricketer I have seen, because he shuts out everything else and just bats. And when he is in that zone, it is something else," he concluded.

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. (ANI)