Steve Smith leapfrogs Steve Waugh to become Australia’s third-highest Test run-scorer

Steve Smith moved past Steve Waugh to become Australia’s third-highest run-scorer in Test cricket during the first day of the first Test against South Africa at Kingsmead in Durban on Friday.Batting at No. 4, Smith scored 25 off 53 balls, hitting two sixes before his innings came to an end. He needed eight runs to move past Waugh’s tally of 10,927 and reached the milestone with a six off Keshav Maharaj in the 19th over, having scored five runs from his first 27 balls.Smith now has 10,945 runs from 224 innings in 126 Tests. Waugh scored 10,927 runs in 260 innings across 168 Tests during his 19-year career for Australia.Only Ricky Ponting and Allan Border are ahead of Smith on Australia’s list of leading Test run-scorers. Ponting finished his career with 13,378 runs in 168 Tests, while Border scored 11,174 runs in 156 matches.Smith, who has captained Australia in the past, is now 55 runs away from becoming the third Australian to reach 11,000 Test runs. He needs to score at least 230 runs across the ongoing three-match series to overtake Border and move into second place on the list.Meanwhile, Australia’s decision to pick Nic Maddinson as an opener did not work out, but Matt Renshaw’s move to the middle order paid off on the opening day of the series. The visitors finished Day 1 on 187/6 in Durban.South Africa are the world test champion after beating Australia in the 2025 final. It is Australia’s first trip to the country since the 2018 ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal.