Australian batsman Steve Smith has opened up about his reaction to injuring his elbow during the 2024-25 Big Bash League match between the Sydney Sixers and Sydney Thunder. After suffering the pain, Smith was afraid it might be big, but he was lucky he didn’t do too much damage.
Smith is Australia’s stand-in captain for the upcoming Test series against Sri Lanka. Being one of the best batsmen in his line-up, he will be crucial to his team’s prospects in the spin-friendly conditions of Sri Lanka.
After injuring himself during a washed-out BBL game while playing for the Sydney Sixers, he was feared to have done extensive damage to his elbow. He immediately felt pain while throwing the ball during the game.
Steve Smith opens up on elbow injury in BBL
While speaking about his injury scare, Steve Smith opened up about his previous injury in 2019 which caused significant damage to his ligament. However, he was relieved to know that it was only muscle damage and no ligament damage.
“I immediately thought ‘oh my God, that hurts’. It was a similar feeling to when I tore the ligament in 2019, so I was a little concerned,” Smith said.
“But the scan showed that luckily my ligament is still intact, the one they repaired. I have a little muscle damage, which is a little millimeter of ligament on the bone that does something,” he added.
The injury may have been due to a hit on the shoulder from fast bowler Jhye Richardson in the opening stages of the BBL. The injury left him with a bruised right shoulder and forced him to change his throwing technique.
Smith further made it clear that he can bat despite the muscle damage and is fully available for the upcoming Test series. The 35-year-old is likely to bat in his favorite spot of no. 4 in the batting order.
“As far as batting goes, I’m pretty comfortable, I’ll be able to get into it and play with a little bit of tape on it,” Smith revealed.
Steve Smith will manage in the absence of Pat Cummins
In the absence of Pat Cummins, Steve Smith will lead Australia in the Test series against Sri Lanka. Cummins decided to skip the series as he is on paternity leave. Although his loss will be a significant blow to Australia, Smith is an experienced and capable captain.
He has an incredible record as a Test cricketer and a brilliant player of spin. He will start the Test series against Sri Lanka with 9999 runs in 114 Tests, averaging 55.86 with 34 hundreds and 41 fifties.
Steve Smith in Border-Gavaskar Trophy 2024-25
Steve Smith was in poor form before the Border-Gavaskar Trophy but played a key role in Australia’s return to the title after a decade. The right-hander has scored 314 runs in five Tests at an average of 34.88 with two hundreds to his name.
Although Steve Smith has been cleared to play in the upcoming Sri Lanka series, he may have to be careful with his bowling. But he is likely to play closer to the batsmen in the Sri Lankan wickets, where pitching may not be an issue.
