Steve Smith in telling photo as Aussies avoid double disaster after Pat Cummins injury blow

Yahoo

11-02-2025

The Aussies have received a huge boost in the form of Steve Smith's troublesome elbow, with the cricket star set to play in the ODIs against Sri Lanka and captain the side at the Champions Trophy. With Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Marsh already ruled out, Smith's availability was thrown into doubt when he appeared to re-injure his elbow in the second Test.
Smith played in the two-Test series but avoided having to throw, after injuring his elbow while playing in the BBL last month. But he appeared to hyperextend it while diving in the field in the second Test, and then reacted with pain when he made an ill-advised throw on day four.
Questions then arose about how Smith would be able to play ODIs without the ability to throw, as he wouldn't be able to hide at first slip like he did in the Tests. But on Tuesday he was seen throwing without pain at training in Colombo, and will take his place in the first ODI against Sri Lanka on Wednesday.
And with Cummins and Marsh both out of the Champions Trophy, Smith will assume the captaincy once more. "It feels fine," Smith said about his elbow on Tuesday. "My throwing's probably going to be limited for a little bit. It feels a lot better than it did when I injured it initially during that Big Bash game. It won't affect my batting."
Australia won the Champions Trophy in 2006 and 2009, but haven't made it past the group stage at either of the last two editions. It means the Champions Trophy is one of the few major titles currently missing from Australia's bulging cabinet, with all Test bilateral trophies, the ODI World Cup and World Test Championship locked away.
"I'd be lying if Champions Trophy isn't at the front of our minds," Smith said. "It's a big ICC tournament for us." Pakistan are the defending champions and will host this year's tournament, which serves as a mini-World Cup of sorts featuring only the top eight teams in ODI cricket.
Steve Smith practising his throwing at the Premadasa. Good signs for how his elbow is recovering on the eve of the first ODI #SLvAus pic.twitter.com/H4mklZ3K90
— Bharat Sundaresan (@beastieboy07) February 11, 2025
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Australia will finalise their Champions Trophy squad this week, and need to name replacements for Cummins, Hazlewood, Marsh and Marcus Stoinis. Cummins, Hazlewood and Marsh are all injured, while Stoinis announced his retirement from ODI cricket after being named in the preliminary squad.
The Aussies have called six players into their ODI squad for the Sri Lanka series - Tanveer Sangha, Sean Abbott, Cooper Connolly, Ben Dwarshuis, Jake Fraser-McGurk and Spencer Johnson. They will draw that pool to add to their Champions Trophy squad, and could conceivably take all six to Pakistan (with two as travelling reserves).
Abbott and Johnson appear the most likely candidates to replace Cummins and Hazlewood, with Mitchell Starc and Nathan Ellis the only other front-line quicks in the squad. Connolly and Fraser-McGurk will likely replace Stoinis and Marsh.
Steve Smith (c), Travis Head (vc), Alex Carey, Josh Inglis, Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Short, Glenn Maxwell, Aaron Hardie, Mitchell Starc, Nathan Ellis, Adam Zampa
with AAP