Steve Smith consults specialist in New York over persistent neck injury
Synopsis
Australia's Steve Smith seeks specialist treatment in New York for a cervical facet joint injury, aiming for a timely return to Sheffield Shield action before the upcoming Test series against New Zealand.
Steve Smith seeks specialist medical advice
Australia batter Steve Smith has consulted a specialist in New York over the neck injury that forced him to miss the final Test against South Africa, with hopes that he will recover in time to feature for New South Wales against Queensland in the Sheffield Shield later this month, ahead of the Test series against New Zealand, according to Cricinfo.
Smith was diagnosed with an injury to his cervical facet joint after experiencing pain during the second Test at St George's Park. The discomfort also affected his batting position, forcing him to move down the order in the second innings. Despite initial confidence within the Australian camp that Smith would recover in time for the series decider at Newlands, a nerve-block injection on the morning of the match led to a decision that he would not be fit enough to play.
Recovery progress and future outlook
While the rest of the Australian squad returned home following the series, Smith travelled to New York, where he owns an apartment and spends considerable time. He is expected to return to Sydney next week, Cricinfo reported.
"Just chatting to him in New York, he's had some specialist appointments there and some progress, I think, in terms of getting to the root of what might have been causing him some trouble in South Africa," chair of selectors George Bailey told reporters on Monday, as quoted by Cricinfo. "So hopefully that continues to trend in the right direction. His plan is he'll… be available for Shield [round] five."
Selectors remain confident in Smith's availability
Bailey said he had no indications anything would hasten a retirement call from the Australian batter and that he was planning for Smith to be available for next year's India and England tours. "Yeah, absolutely. "I certainly haven't had any discussions with him to suggest otherwise. And as I said, the information that he shared from New York post those specialist updates are positive. And I think Ronnie [head coach Andrew McDonald] touched on this in trying to get to the bottom of what causes it and if it happens again, how quickly can we find a remedy that can get on top of it and get him back on the park. But he's an absolutely quality player and we're a better team with him in it… and he's been on record as saying that he takes that on a series-by-series basis and I don't think that's uncommon for players of his age," Bailey added.
"He has probably been asked about it more specifically than a lot of others. But for someone who's achieved a hell of a lot, and I still can see him achieving a hell of a lot more. I think we've got some pretty exciting series coming up. Yeah, I'm confident he'll be a very important part of them," he added.