According to Cricket Australia, Smith has been sidelined for four weeks due to a tendon injury to his left wrist, while Australia skipper Pat Cummins is recovering from a wrist fracture sustained during the Ashes in England.
Despite missing the limited-overs tour of South Africa due to injury, Mitchell Starc and Steve Smith are anticipated to be healthy for the ODI series in India leading up to the World Cup.
According to Cricket Australia, Smith has been sidelined for four weeks due to a tendon injury to his left wrist, while Australia’s captain Pat Cummins is recovering from a wrist fracture sustained during the Ashes in England.
Both will miss the three T20 Internationals that will be played in South Africa from August 30 to September 3 and the five ODIs that will follow from September 7 to September 17.
Along with left-arm pace bowler Mitchell Starc, who is also out from the squad for the South Africa series, the two will be back for the three-match ODI series against India starting on September 22.
Starc, who played a key role in Australia’s 2-1 ODI series victory over India in March, returned from the Ashes with “groyne soreness” and a shoulder ailment.
Australia has added tall left-arm quick Spencer Johnson, who plays for Australia in T20Is, to their ODI team for South Africa.Australia’s national selection panel chairman, George Bailey, stated on Friday that the group was under a tremendous workload due to the compressed Ashes series and the World Test Championship. “We are taking a conservative approach in the build-up to the World Cup,” Bailey added.”With the World Cup (starting on October 5) the priority of the squad, it was decided on advice that it was best for Steve (Smith) and Mitchell (Marsh) to join the group in India by which time we expect them to be fully fit and available for the Indian ODI series as well as the World Cup warm-up match,” Bailey continued.Mitchell Marsh, who had already been selected Australia’s T20I captain for the series against South Africa, will take over for Cummins and skipper the team in the five-match ODI series.
