Steve Smith became the fourth Australian to reach 10,000 runs in Test cricket on Wednesday on the opening day against Sri Lanka. But a cruel twist of fate meant none of his family and friends were in attendance to see it live.

And due to some unique scheduling by broadcaster Channel 7, there’s concerns that thousands of cricket fans might have missed seeing it on TV as well. Smith reached the magical 10,000-run milestone simply by getting off the mark on Wednesday in the first Test in Galle.

He was stranded on 9999 after the fifth Test against India at the SCG, where wife Dani was among a number of friends and family in attendance in the hope of witnessing the historic moment. Smith needed a total of 38 runs in two innings at the SCG, but fell cruelly short when he only managed 37 – 33 in the first dig and 4 in the second.

Dani’s reaction was captured on camera when he was dismissed one run short of 10,000, and she looked gutted for him. Smith shrugged off the near-miss, but admitted it would have been nice to reach the magical number in front of his family and friends.

And when he did so on Wednesday his wife was noticeably absent, with Dani not at the ground in Galle to witness it live. Rather than having dozens of family and friends there to see it, there was only a smattering of Australians in the outer.

“It would have been good to do it in front of all my friends and family,” Smith said before the series, admitting the milestone weighed on his mind too much. “I don’t read too much into stats and stuff but 10,000 is a bit of a different beast. Normally I don’t buy into any of that stuff, but pre-game (at the SCG) I was doing lots of media because I was approaching that mark.

“So it was probably playing on my mind more than any other game I’ve ever played, so that was a bit of a shame…I had a horrific week of sleep. It wasn’t good at all. But thankfully we won that game and the series and it didn’t matter too much, and we’ll keep moving forward.”

Steve Smith betters Aussie cricket legends in 10,000 club

Smith joined Ricky Ponting (13,378), Allan Border (11,174) and Steve Waugh (10,927) as the only Australians to pass 10,000 runs. However the stand-in captain reached the milestone with a higher average (55.86) than the three other legends did.

The only player in world cricket to reach 10,000 with a higher average is Sri Lanka’s Kumar Sangakarra, who went on to amass 12,400 runs in his career. Smith went to stumps at 104 not out after bringing up the 35th century of his Test career, and in doing so passed Pakistan great Younis Khan’s total of 10,099.

Indian icon Sachin Tendulkar (15,921) remains the highest run-scorer in Test history, followed by Ponting, South African champion Jacques Kallis (13,289) and Indian great Rahul Dravid (13,288). England veteran Joe Root (12,972) is the only other active player in the 10,000 club with Smith.

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Channel 7 scheduling might have seen some miss milestone

Thanks to Channel 7 securing the broadcasting rights for the Sri Lanka series, many more Australians got to witness Smith reaching the milestone than if it was behind a paywall. But many have questioned whether the decision to switch the cricket from the main channel to 7Mate would have seen some fans miss it.

The cricket was on the main channel from 3.30-5pm (AEDT), and from 7.30-10.30pm. But between 5-7.30pm Seven prioritised The Chase, followed by the 6pm news and Home and Away – all big ratings winners for the network.