A worried Steve Smith feared he could be set for more surgery on his elbow after hurting himself ahead of his return to the Australian Test captaincy.
The star batter joined his Australian teammates on Tuesday ahead of the two-Test series against Sri Lanka after scans cleared him of major damage to his right elbow.
Smith will ease into training at the camp in Dubai ahead of the first Test in Galle, starting on January 29.
The 35-year-old initially feared a long absence after hurting his elbow while throwing a ball for the Sydney Sixers in their washed-out Big Bash League derby against the Sydney Thunder.
Before his comeback to international cricket in 2019, Smith, who ended the India series on 9,999 Test runs, was forced to undergo surgery on the same elbow due to a fielding mishap.
“I caught Davey (Warner) over the boundary and lobbed it back into the field, then threw that ball back in quite hard,” Smith said in Dubai on Tuesday.
“Straight away I thought ‘oh jeez, that hurt’.
“That was a similar sort of feeling to when I ruptured my ligament back in 2019, so I was a little bit worried for a little bit.
“But scans showed fortunately my ligament is still intact, the one that I got repaired.
“It’s probably going to stop me throwing for a little while, but in terms of batting I’m pretty comfortable I’ll be able to get into it and play with some tape on it.”
Smith believes his elbow might have been susceptible due to suffering a blow to his shoulder from Perth Scorchers quick Jhye Richardson during the BBL.
He still has a bruise from the delivery from Richardson, and Smith thinks the pain might have caused him to throw differently to normal.
Steve Smith. (Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
Smith was appointed Test captain for the first time since the Indian tour in 2023 to fill in for Pat Cummins, who is missing the series due to the impending birth of his second child.
Smith’s injury comes as spinner Matthew Kuhnemann hopes to prove his fitness for the series after undergoing surgery on a thumb injury to his non-bowling hand suffered in the BBL.
Kuhnemann’s departure from Australia has also been delayed, but the 28-year-old is expected to resume bowling later this week with a view to joining the squad in Sri Lanka.
