• 35-year-old goes to Sri Lanka one shy of 10,000 Test runs
• Australia stand-in captain to lead Konstas to play his way

Steve Smith has conceded he thought “too much” about reaching the 10,000 Test runs milestone against India before falling one run short in the fifth Test. The stand-in captain will head to Sri Lanka needing a single to join Ricky Ponting, Allan Border and Steve Waugh in an exclusive Australian cricket club.

Smith, famously fidgety and a poor sleeper during Tests – particularly while he is batting – reckons he has never cared much for statistics and milestones in a 114-Test career in which he’s averaged nearly 56. But, after falling for four in the second innings at the SCG to leave his home crowd, packed with family, friends and the three cricketing greats above him on that list gutted, he couldn’t pretend it didn’t hurt.