Australia’s star batter Steve Smith shared an update on the finger injury he picked up during their World Test Championship final loss to South Africa at Lord’s.
Steve Smith Updates on Finger Injury from WTC Final
On Day 3 of the intense match, Smith had to go to the hospital after suffering a compound dislocation in his right little finger while fielding in the slips. The injury happened when South Africa captain Temba Bavuma edged the ball in Smith’s direction. Smith reacted quickly to try and catch it, but couldn’t hold on and hurt his finger in the process.
Australia has three Test matches coming up against the West Indies starting June 25. There are worries about whether 36-year-old Steve Smith will be able to play because of his finger injury. After the first check-up, Smith spoke about the injury and said he still hopes to be part of the team for the tour to the Caribbean.
Smith shared this after Australia’s five-wicket loss to South Africa at Lord’s, according to the ICC. “I will be in a splint for eight weeks now, and I may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks. It will depend on my functionality and what I am able to do, so it was probably the best result I could have hoped for,”
Steve Smith’s dropped catch when Bavuma was just two runs proved costly for Australia. Bavuma went on to score 66 and built a winning partnership with Aiden Markram. At the time of the injury, Smith was close to Bavuma and wearing a helmet to handle the tricky bounce at Lord’s.
“I was standing pretty close with the helmet on, and as we saw throughout the game, a lot of nicks went short of first and second slip. The plan was to stand pretty close, and I lost sight of it with the angle that Mitchell Starc was bowling, and it kind of went inside Bavuma’s hip,” Smith said.
“I didn’t quite see it until really late and it kind of dipped on me a little bit late too as well. It was tricky, it didn’t go in my hand very well, and fortunately, there is no break there, and it just split the skin and dislocated it, which made me feel pretty ill at that stage,” he added.
Smith’s Thoughts on Playing at Lord’s
Steve Smith has mixed feelings about the ‘Home of Cricket’ because of his past experiences there. In 2019, he was hit on the head by a fast ball from England’s Jofra Archer.
“I have a love/hate relationship with this place now. I have had some good memories here and some not so good ones as well. Getting hit in the head by Jofra (Archer) in 2019 and now having my digit knocked off out here yesterday as well. But it’s a wonderful place to play cricket, and I have enjoyed it here, and it was a real good game of cricket again,” he said
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