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Australian stalwart Steve Smith revealed on Sunday that he had a cortisone injection to reduce the pain in a wrist tendon injury he suffered during the Ashes and he hopes that he will be pain-free during the World Cup.
Smith sustained the injury during the Lord's Test in July, and he was sidelined for the remainder of the series before being ruled out of the white-ball tour of South Africa. "I was in a brace for a couple of weeks, just trying to limit the movement, which once I got that off it hadn't really made a big difference to be honest," Smith told Nine newspapers as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. "Then I got a cortisone in it last Thursday, and that has made a big difference. So I've had a couple of sessions, back batting now and it feels pretty normal," he said. Smith stated that the pain was often worse when the bat twisted in his hands, but that he has felt no discomfort after the injection. "I inside-edged a couple of balls in the nets the other day and my bat turned sharp, and I was like 'oh, that was hurting before' and it wasn't hurting anymore," he said. "So that's a real positive, and I feel as though I can play all my shots and there's no pain at all." After Travis Head suffered a hand fracture at Centurion, Smith might return to his preferred No. 3 position, earlier planned to drop a spot to accommodate a powerhouse top three of Head, David Warner, and Mitchell Marsh. "I think I average 55 at three, or something like that, so it's definitely my preferred spot. But I'll do whatever the team needs. White-ball cricket, you'd love to bat as high as you can, so we'll see what they want to do," he added. Teams competing at the World Cup have until September 28 to submit their final 15-player squads to the ICC for the tournament and changes can only be made after that date with permission from event organisers. Australia will begin their tournament campaign against India, in Chennai on October 8. (ANI)
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