Less than three weeks after badly injuring a finger in the World Test Championship, champion batter Steve Smith will return for the second Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy in place of Josh Inglis, Australian captain Pat Cummins confirmed on Wednesday.
It will be 20 days since Smith suffered a compound fracture when spilling Temba Bavuma in the infancy of a critical innings from the South African skipper, with the fact the veteran was standing in closer than usual due to a dead pitch contributing to the injury.
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Smith opens up on gruesome finger injury | 02:32
Having spent almost a week at his New York home recuperating, Smith joined the Australians after their 159-run victory in the opening Test and has looked in good order in the nets ahead of the Grenada Test.
But the 36-year-old will not be able to field in the slips due to the injury, with Cummins confirming the superstar will instead spend time roaming the outfield at fine leg and also at mid-off in a bid to minimise the risk of further damage.
West Indian coach Daren Sammy said that Smith added another layer of difficulty to the hosts hopes of squaring the series after what was a largely bowler-dominated first Test in which Australia’s top order again failed to fire.
“He’s a quality guy, a quality player,” Sammy said.
“Australia is still strong (without him) because of the system they have. They keep on producing guys. But we’ve seen when we add pressure as a bowling group, we did get 20 wickets in the Test and that’s the first step towards winning. Steve Smith, if he comes in, poses a different challenge to us.”
While Smith was always certain to return to the fray once recovered, it is a blow for Inglis, who failed to further his claims when contributing just 17 runs in two innings in Bridgetown.
More to come …
How Smith’s return could impact Aus | 09:35