Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting has heaped massive praises on the current Australian batting star Steve Smith. Ponting even compared Smith to the great Don Bradman while hailing Smith as one of the finest batters that the Australia has produced. His remark came as Smith is set to play his 100th Test match when he takes the field for the third Ashes Test at Headingley in Leeds.

Overall, Smith will become the fourteenth Australian to get to the landmark of playing 100 Test matches. The right-handed batter boasts of an enviable record especially in the longest format of the game where he has accumulated 9,113 runs at an average of 59.56. While there is no doubt regarding Smith's status as one of the modern-day great, Ponting reckons that he is, in fact, among the all-time greats.

"If it all ended tomorrow he'd be the second-greatest batsman Australia have produced after Don Bradman. Statistically, you cannot argue with that. He's achieving things so quickly," Ponting said in an interaction with Nasser Hussain on the Daily Mail.

Meanwhile, things are nicely set up for the third Ashes Test. However, the pressure will be on England as they find themselves 0-2 down heading into the third match of the series. 

Things have been intense between the players of both the teams in the series so far. While Ollie Robinson animated send off to Usman Khawaja was a talking point, the controversial dismissal of Jonny Bairstow heated up things further with England coach Brendon McCullum even saying that they will not be having beer with Australia anytime soon.

Recalling his own Ashes experience, Ponting said that he did not like it when the opposition players were friendly.

"I wasn't happy with them being friendly when I played. You're even talking to me now in the commentary box when you probably wouldn't have done 10 years ago! Franchise cricket has changed a lot of the atmosphere between the teams because these guys have played in the same sides around the world," he said.