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Australia are confident that star batter Steve Smith will be fit to feature on the final day of the second Test in Gqeberha as the tourists try to salvage a draw.
Smith failed to take the crease late on the pivotal fourth day of the ICC World Test Championship contest as he battled neck stiffness, with the tourists missing his experience at the crease as they limped to 156/4 at stumps after they were forced to follow on when skittled for just 99 in their first innings in reply to the Proteas' first innings total of 425/9 declared. While Smith top-scored for the Aussies in that first innings with 28 to surpass the 11,000-run barrier in Test cricket, the right-hander looked in discomfort late in his innings following a Kagiso Rabada delivery that caused his neck to jolt backwards. Smith was seen with a cushion around his neck in the change room during Australia's second innings, but coach Andrew McDonald has painted a positive outlook on the 37-year-old and expects to have his star batter available on the fifth day. "We felt it was best to hopefully get the batting unit through to tomorrow and then hopefully he is better placed," McDonald said as quoted by the ICC. "We have seen the physio working on him, so he will bat tomorrow. It is not something that will rule him out of the innings, but it was just a little bit more time than we expected on the back of the first innings.Sometimes he changes his technique when he is fully fit too, but he was limited in what he could do." Australia opener Travis Head (87*) and night-watchman Scott Boland (2*) are the not-out players overnight in South Africa, with Smith likely to come to the crease at the fall of the first wicket on Thursday. The World Test Championship pacesetters also have keeper Alex Carey still to come in their lineup, and McDonald believes the side can salvage something from the crucial second Test as they attempt to hang on to their current 1-0 series lead. "I have great belief and trust in the skill sets in that room, and in particular tomorrow, we will go out there and potentially turn this one around," McDonald said. "If that does not unfold, we will go to Cape Town, and we will reload. We will go again." "A great strength of this group is on significant setbacks - and I will say this is a significant setback - we have been able to respond," he signed off. (ANI)
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