Steve Smith Injury Update: SYDNEY<\/strong> \u2014 Australia\u2019s star batter Steve Smith<\/strong> has made a remarkable recovery from a finger injury that ruled him out of the last match \u2014 and he\u2019s ready to return for the second Test against the West Indies after an unorthodox baseball cage rehab<\/strong> in New York.<\/p>\n Smith, 35, dislocated his right little finger during the World Test Championship final at Lord\u2019s<\/strong>, but avoided surgery. Instead, he used batting cages in New York to rebuild strength.<\/p>\n \u201cI started with tennis balls and soft cricket balls. By the second session, I was facing hard balls,\u201d Smith told reporters. \u201cI sent footage back to the medical team in Barbados \u2014 they were pleased with my progress.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n With his stitches now removed and replaced with a thinner splint<\/strong>, Smith says the pain is gone and his batting is back on track.<\/p>\n While the former captain is confident with the bat, he admits fielding could be tricky:<\/p>\n \u201cFielding in front of the wicket will probably be the strangest thing. I\u2019ve never done that in a Test. I might be at mid-on, mid-off, or fine leg \u2014 definitely different from slip.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n Team officials have yet to confirm the final playing XI for the Grenada Test<\/strong>, which starts July 3 in St. George\u2019s<\/strong>, but sources say Smith\u2019s inclusion is highly likely given his fitness.<\/p>\n Australia already lead the two-Test series 1-0<\/strong> after a dominant 159-run win<\/strong> in the first match.<\/p>\n Smith also voiced his support for Australia\u2019s new batting line-up, including debutants like Sam Konstas<\/strong>:<\/p>\n \u201cThese guys are good players. They just need time and opportunity. It doesn\u2019t always click right away \u2014 my first Test hundred came in my 12th match. They\u2019ve got talent and bright futures.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n A win in the second Test would seal a clean sweep for the Aussies before a packed home summer.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Steve Smith Injury Update: Australia\u2019s Steve Smith shares how a unique baseball cage recovery helped him regain fitness for the West Indies Test. <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":3213,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[968,970,87,969,966,967,971],"class_list":["post-3212","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sports","tag-australia-vs-west-indies","tag-baseball-cage-recovery","tag-cricket-news","tag-grenada-test","tag-steve-smith-injury-update","tag-steve-smith-test-return","tag-wtc-injury-smith"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3212","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3212"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3212\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3214,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3212\/revisions\/3214"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3213"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3212"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3212"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bestpakmag.com\/ur\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3212"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n\ud83c\udfcf Steve Smith Injury Update: Unique Baseball Cage Method Fast-Tracks Recovery<\/h2>\n
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\n\ud83d\udce3 Steve Smith: \u201cBatting Feels Normal \u2014 Fielding Will Be Different\u201d<\/h2>\n
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\n\ud83c\udfcf Grenada Test XI: Smith Likely to Bat at No. 4<\/h2>\n
\n\ud83d\udde3\ufe0fSteve Smith Injury Update:\u00a0 Smith Backs Young Top Order<\/h2>\n
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\n\ud83c\udfc6 Series Outlook: Australia Eye Clean Sweep<\/h2>\n