Steve Smith scores his 10,000th test run, Australia is 145-2 at lunch on the 1st day vs Sri Lanka

Galle (Sri Lanka), Jan 29 (AP) Steve Smith scored his 10,000th test run to put him in elite cricket company and Australia was 145-2 after winning the toss and batting Wednesday in the first test against Sri Lanka.

Smith needed only one run Wednesday to achieve the milestone, and he was 2 not out at lunch along with opener Usman Khawaja, who was unbeaten on 65. Smith was on 9,999 career test runs when he was dismissed in the fifth Australia-India test in Sydney earlier this month.

Smith became the 15th player in test cricket, and fourth Australian, to score 10,000 runs in a career. He brought up the milestone on his first delivery, skipping down the wicket and punching a single to mid-on.

Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174), and Steve Waugh (10,927) are the other Australian batters to have scored 10,000 runs in a test career. Sachin Tendulkar is the leading all-time test scorer with 15,921 runs.

Earlier Khawaja and Travis Head made the most of spin-friendly conditions in Galle, crafting half-centuries.

On a surface expected to favor the spinners, Australia’s batters countered with positive intent, regularly finding the boundary and forcing Sri Lanka to spread the field. Head, in particular, was in a punishing mood, reaching his half-century in just 35 balls, leaving Sri Lanka scrambling for answers.

Khawaja, in contrast, adopted a more measured approach, playing with patience while rotating the strike. The duo stitched together a commanding 92-run opening stand before Head fell for 57, caught at long-on off Prabath Jayasuriya.

Sri Lanka struck again when Marnus Labuschagne departed for 20, courtesy of a sharp catch at slip by Dhananjaya de Silva, handing leg-spinner Jeffrey Vandersay his first wicket of the match.

Smith is captaining the Australian side in the absence of Pat Cummins, who is on paternity leave. Australia recently won a five-test series against India in Australia which qualified it for the World Test Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s in June.

The second test in the two-match series begins Feb. 6, also in Galle.