Ricky Ponting lavishes ENORMOUS praise on Aussie batter by calling him second-greatest after Sir Don Bradman

In 99 Test matches, he has scored 9113 runs at an impressive average of 59.56.

Ricky Ponting lavishes ENORMOUS praise on Aussie batter by calling him second-greatest after Sir Don Bradman

Ricky Ponting, Sir Don Bradman (Images via Sky Sports, Wikipedia)

Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting lavished massive praise on Steve Smith by calling him the second-greatest batter after the legendary Sir Don Bradman. Smith will add another record to his name when he’ll play his 100th Test match for Australia in the third Ashes Test against England on July 6 at Headingley stadium in Leeds.

Ponting appeared for an interview with ex-England skipper Nasser Hussain for Daily Mail. Hussain asked Ponting his thought regarding Smith’s ranking amongst the Australian greats. To this, Ponting highlighted Smith’s stats to call him the second-greatest batter after Bradman.

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“If it all ends tomorrow, he would be the second-greatest batsman Australia has produced after Don Bradman. And statistically, you cannot argue with that,” Ponting said. Smith is all set to become the 15th Australian cricketer to play his 100th Test. In 99 Test matches, Smith has scored 9113 runs at an impressive average of 59.56.

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Steve Smith became the second-fastest batter to reach 9000 runs

Steve Smith became the second-fastest batter to 9000 runs
Steve Smith (Image via Twitter)

Steve Smith has played a crucial role in helping Australia take a 2-0 lead in the five-match Ashes series. In the first Test, he could score just 16 in the first innings and a mere six in the second innings. However, he smashed his 32nd century in the first innings of the second Test and followed it with 34 runs in the second innings.

During the second Test at the Lord’s, he also became the second-fastest batter in history to reach the 9000-run mark. His century knock awarded him the Player of the Match trophy in the second Test.

Smith made his Test debut for Australia in 2010 against Pakistan. Interestingly, he started his career as a leg spinner before becoming the best Aussie batter since Sir Don Bradman. His career was derailed by the infamous ball-tampering saga in the 2018 Test match against South Africa. He was stripped of the captaincy and was banned for one year. But he made a terrific comeback in the 2019 Ashes series, scoring 774 runs.

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