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Former Australia opener David Warner has lavished praise on star Australia batter Steve Smith’s work ethic after his magnificent hundred vs Sri Lanka in Galle. Smith scored an unbeaten 104* on Day 1 of the first Test as he brought up his 35th Test century.
The stand-in Australia captain left behind legendary cricketers, namely Sunil Gavaskar, Brian Lara, Mahela Jayawardene and Younis Khan, as he now sits on the sixth spot in the list of most hundreds in the longest format. Following Smith’s remarkable ton, his former teammate Warner was full of praise for the batting stalwart as he shared his incredible work ethic.
“He is an absolutely amazing cricket player and he just works hard. He literally has cricket ball sandwiches. Early in his career, he would be the first in the nets and the last in the nets. You just knew when Steve was hitting a lot of balls, he was on. It is not by fluke that he is still playing,” Warner was quoted by Fox Cricket as saying.
Furthermore, Warner also spoke at length about Smith’s ability to bat for long periods and revealed how he left him in awe of his batting prowess during his playing days.
Australia finish Day 1 in a commanding position
“His tenacity to bat long periods of time and get himself in and score runs for the team is amazing. Being up the other end and watching him do it with ease and have so much time, you then go back and, ‘If I hit that many balls, would I have that much time?’. I don’t think so. But it is his natural knack and ability to do that and churn our hundreds for fun and lots of runs for Australia,” he added.
Meanwhile, Smith was well-supported by Usman Khawaja on Day 1 as the duo got involved in a massive 195-run stand for the third wicket. Khawaja also registered his 16th Test century, scoring an unbeaten 147*. Courtesy of their partnership, Australia finished Day 1 in a commanding position of 330/2.
