The former Australia captain, Ricky Ponting, had selected Ashes superstar Steve Smith as the greatest number four batter in Test cricket (via Sky Sports Cricket). England will play a four-match Ashes in Australia in 2025-26, and the opening Test will commence on Friday, November 21.
He has selected Kevin Pietersen initially as opposed to Mahela Jayawardene and Mark Waugh. He however selected Javed Miandad in place of Pietersen. Ponting then chose Steve Smith in place of Miandad. He continued to stay with Smith ahead of Brian Lara, Jacques Kallis and Virat Kohli.
The ex-Australia skipper also continued to stick with Smith at the expense of Joe Root. And lastly, he has remained with Smith more than with the legendary Sachin Tendulkar also, hence calling Smith as the best number four batter in the format.
Smith has accumulated 10477 runs out of 212 innings with the average of 56.03 and 36 hundreds and 43 half-century. His finest performance has been at the fourth number with the aggregate of 6666 runs in 125 innings with 23 hundreds and 27 fifties at an average of 60.05.
Steve Smith will be the Australian captain without Pat Cummins who was declared unfit in the first 2025-26 Ashes match at Perth. The hosts declared their playing 11 where Jake Weatherald and Brendan Doggett will be the two debutants.
Smith has already made 37 Tests against England. He has had a success of 3417 runs (average of 56.01) with 12 hundred and 13 half-century.
What are Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar’s stats at number four in Test cricket?
Among the greatest batsmen to have ever played this sport are Virat Kohli and Sachin Tendulkar. Kohli debuted in 2011. He has played 123 games, with 9230 runs at an average of 46.85 with 30 hundreds.
Since his debut in 1989, Tendulkar had scored 15921 runs in 200 Tests with an average of 53.78, and 51 hundred.
Virat Kohli made the highest number of his runs when batting fourth. He batted 160 innings with 7564 runs with a mean of 50.09 and had 26 hundreds and 21 half-centuries. Likewise, Tendulkar had the best performance in the format which was ranked at position four.
In 275 innings of that position, he scored 13492 runs with an average of 54.40 and 44 hundreds and 58 half-centuries.
