Australia batter Steve Smith is on track to make his return to the Test team for the second Test against the West Indies which begins on 3 July.
The former captain was forced to miss the first game of the series due to a hand injury, a compound dislocation, that he suffered in the Test World Championship final against South Africa at Lord’s.
Smith spent his time out of the game in New York with his trainer to recover and his rehab included a net session with a tennis ball and soft practice ball to ensure the injury did not get exacerbated.
He has now rejoined the squad in Barbados and is likely to replace Josh Inglis in the starting team for the second Test and will bat at number 4, according to head coach Andrew McDonald.
“It’s really about functionality around the finger rather than anything else,” McDonald said.
“There’ll be no risk to long-term health of that finger. He’ll return and I think it’s likely he’ll play. Leading into the next game, he’ll have the main session two days out.
“He’ll [also] train the day before [the match]. If that all goes well, then I’d expect Steve to resume at No. 4.”
As he is returning much sooner than anticipated, Smith will likely not be able to field in the slips for the match as that would increase the risk of the injury returning, which leaves him to outfield duties for the foreseeable future.
“We want to keep him [Smith] at four and build around that rather than potentially risking too many moves in the order,” McDonald added.
“In terms of why we see him as No. 4, I think we’ve settled on that. We could slide him up higher if we wanted to. He’s been excellent at number three.
“But I think if you look at the last 12 months at No. 4 and his ability to stabilise that position, two down, arguably our greatest batter, we want to keep him at four and build around that rather than potentially risking too many moves in the order.”
