WI vs AUS, 2nd Test: Steve Smith likely to return to Australia’s Playing XI after finger injury

Australia is likely to be bolstered by the return of Steve Smith for the second Test against West Indies, which begins on Thursday at National Cricket Stadium in Grenada.

Smith missed the series opener after sustaining a finger injury during the World Test Championship (WTC) final against South Africa last month. However, the 36-year-old batted with little discomfort during training on Tuesday and is likely to return to the Playing XI as Australia looks to seal the three-match series after winning the first Test by 159 runs.

“(He’s a) class player. Think anytime you add 10,000 runs back into the line-up, you’re going to be pretty happy with it. So we’ll wait and see,” Australia wicketkeeper Alex Carey said of Smith.

“Obviously, he’s having a hit out here. He seems pretty confident and he’s excited to get back in. But also, it’s been tough at the top of the order, so to add I guess a little bit more experience is good for the group, but I think they’re doing a pretty good job as well,” he added.

With Smith likely to return to his preferred No. 4 spot, Josh Inglis, who only managed scores of 5 and 12 in the first Test in Barbados, is expected to make way for the talisman.

A different challenge

Meanwhile, West Indies head coach Daren Sammy also admitted that the return of Smith to the Australian lineup will pose a different challenge for his bowling unit.

“He (Smith) is a quality guy and a quality player. Australia is still strong (without him) because of the system they have. They keep on producing guys. But we’ve seen when we add pressure as a bowling group, we did get 20 wickets in the Test and that’s the first step towards winning. Steve Smith, if he comes in, poses a different challenge to us,” Sammy said, while also rueing the dropped catches during the first Test.

“I think the biggest thing is we shot ourselves in the foot. You cannot drop seven catches against the world’s No.1 team and expect to compete. We have a lot of blame to take for the defeat, but there were also some positives… for the first two days, we were (going) head and shoulders against the No.1 team,” he added.