Steven Smith’s damaged left index finger is healing on schedule, and Australia are quietly confident he will reclaim the No.4 berth when the second Test against West Indies starts in Grenada on Thursday. Head coach Andrew McDonald, speaking after the squad arrived from Barbados, indicated that Tuesday’s main training session should provide the final green light.
“It’s really about functionality around the finger rather than anything else,” McDonald said. “There’ll be no risk to long-term health of that finger. He’ll return and I think it’s likely he’ll play. Leading into the next game, he’ll have the main session two days out.”
A simple statement, yet an important one: if Smith passes those drills, wicketkeeper-batter Josh Inglis, who filled in for the three-day win at Kensington Oval, is expected to sit out. Smith would, in effect, slide straight back into the role he has owned for most of the past decade.
The injury itself looked innocuous: a close-range chance from Temba Bavuma during the World Test Championship final at Lord’s crashed into the finger, causing a compound dislocation. Initial advice was an eight-week stint in a splint, but the 35-year-old has trimmed that timeline. A week in New York involved light hitting against a tennis ball and then an incrediball, plus plenty of rehab chats over coffee. He rejoined his team-mates on Saturday evening.
McDonald’s main concern now is fielding. Smith cannot yet return to the cordon and may be posted at point or in the deep, a compromise made trickier by his long-standing right-elbow issues. “He’ll [also] train the day before [the match]. If that all goes well, then I’d expect Steve to resume at No. 4,” McDonald added, before conceding some late tinkering may be needed if the elbow becomes sore.
The return of Smith solves one headache but not all of them. Australia’s openers misfired in Barbados, and some pundits floated the idea of shifting Smith to No.3, a position where his average comfortably tops 60. McDonald, though, shut that down. “We want to keep him [Smith] at four and build around that rather than potentially risking too many moves in the order,” he said. The implication is clear: selectors would prefer Cameron Green, or anyone else, to adapt rather than shunt their premier run-maker into a fresh role.
Inglis appears the unfortunate casualty. His brisk 71 last week showed promise, yet Australia seldom field six specialist batters and two keepers in the same XI. Travis Head, settled at five, remains untouched despite being senior enough to shuffle if required.
One ripple effect could hit Marnus Labuschagne. Dropped for the first time since 2019, he carried drinks in Barbados and may now be released to find match practice. Glamorgan are a possible short-term stop; so is the Australia A series against Sri Lanka A in Darwin next month. “If we do have a surfeit of batters then we’ll explore match opportunities for sure,” McDonald said.
Those decisions will crystallise once Smith’s finger is properly tested under Caribbean sun. For now the expectation, expressed quietly rather than trumpeted, is that Australia’s most reliable run-scorer will walk out at four in Grenada, bat unencumbered, then jog to an outfield posting—another small adjustment in a career built on constant, meticulous tweaks.
