One of Australia’s finest batter Steve Smith has been named in Australia’s playing XI for the second Test against West Indies. The second test will begin on July 3 in Grenada. Aussie skipper Pat Cummins confirmed their star batter’s return and he will replace Josh Inglis who managed mere 17 runs in the first Test.
Smith was ruled out from the first Test following a dislocated finger he sustained during the World Test Championship Final. Australia who were the defending champions of WTC in 2023 failed to defend their title against South Africa.
The injury forced the right hand batter to stay away from the first Test in Barbados and during the test he focused on rehabilitation using different methods. He used innovative methods in a baseball cage in New York helping him recover swiftly.
“He’s ready to go, the finger held up well. He was really happy, particularly batting,” Pat Cummins said on Wednesday in Grenada.
“Fielding we still potentially need to manage it a little bit, so he might not be in the slips too often – maybe for spin he’ll be OK, but (for the) quicks he might need to wait another week,” Cummins added.
Series Dynamics
Australia is currently leading the series 1-0 as they defeated the hosts by 159 runs in Barbados. Travis Head was awarded man of the match for last game.
Smith may return as a batter but fans will have to wait for a long time to see him back in his preferred fielding position – slips as it is a risky position and injury needs to be prevented. AUS PLAYING XI FOR 2nd TEST
Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
This will be Australia’s first game in Grenada, the stadium that has hosted only four Tests (From 2002 to 2022).
“That’s one of his great strengths, he’s scored runs all over the world and that means that while he’s not played a game here, he seems to work out pretty quickly what needs to be done and where your scoring areas are. There’s been four Test matches here, and they’ve all been spread out so it’s hard to know, but it looked like a pretty good wicket a pretty even coverage of grass,” stated Cummins
