Australia National Cricket Team captain Pat Cummins has officially announced the modern-day batting great Steve Smith's comeback from injury.
Pat Cummins has confirmed that Steve Smith will be rejoining the Australia squad in Barbados and will be looking to prove his fitness for the second Test of the three-match series against the West Indies National Cricket Team, which will commence on July 3.
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Smith picked up a finger injury during the final of the ICC World Test Championship 2025 against the South Africa National Cricket Team, and it ruled him out of the Test series opener against the Caribbean side.
He injured his little finger while fielding in the slips on Day 3 of the WTC Final and didn't participate in the remainder of the match against the Proteas.
Steve Smith was standing close to Proteas skipper Temba Bavuma in the slips with the helmet on, and as the batter nicked a delivery from Mitchell Starc behind the stumps, he went for the catch.
Smith, who is regarded as one of the best slip fielders, dropped the catch to give a reprieve to the South African skipper. To make matters worse, he also sustained a brutal-looking injury on his finger.
It was later found out that Smith had suffered a compound dislocation of the little finger of his right hand, but thankfully, he avoided surgery and was asked to wear a splint for eight weeks.
He's had a few hits over in New York - Pat Cummins
Speaking after Australia's 159-run win over West Indies in the first Test, Pat Cummins revealed that Smith has returned to batting practice in New York, and he will be directly slotted into the Australian playing XI if he is fit and can tolerate batting with a split on his finger.
"He's had a few hits over in New York, which I think was with a tennis ball and an incredi-ball. I think his wound is looking good, so the next stage is to come over here and hit some balls in the nets. So we'll know more over the next few days," Pat Cummins said, as quoted by cricket.com.au.
Of course, the top order would like to score some more runs - Pat Cummins defends young batters
Australia's top-order batting unit in Test cricket has been a major cause of concern for the side. Usman Khawaja is nearing the end of his career, Sam Konstas is yet to prove himself, Cameron Green has looked miserable at No.3, and Josh Inglis also failed to score in the Test series opener while batting at No.4.
However, Pat Cummins has refused to throw the young batters under the bus. He said that the surface in Bridgetown was a tricky one to bat on and they will back the young batters to deliver a better performance when they encounter such a pitch next time.
"You saw today how tricky a wicket that was, there weren't too many 50-run partnerships throughout the whole game. Of course, the top order would like to score some more runs. The challenge of Test cricket, especially for young players, is when you get thrown different conditions, you've got to find a way to be effective," Pat Cummins said.
"That's the challenge for our young batting group – if you presented that same wicket next week, would you do anything differently? Would you not? That will be the conversations over the next few days. But we back them in and their prep leading in was excellent and the way they're talking about playing is really good, so we've got full confidence," Pat Cummins added.
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