Smith feared the worst after injury scare after pain on same elbow that he had surgery on way back in 2019.
Smith feared he had done significant damage to his elbow when he felt pain throwing in the BBL last week.
However, Smith was given permission to join the training camp in Dubai after receiving advise from an expert. He travelled there on Tuesday and intends to start batting again in the coming days. While Pat Cummins is on paternity leave, he will lead Australia for the two Test matches in Galle.
At the SCG last Friday, Smith’s thoughts were focused on his scar, which occurred at the same elbow where he underwent ligament surgery in 2019 and needed extensive rehabilitation.
Smith described how the issue arose: he had taken a catch off David Warner, flipped it back inside the rope, and was about to toss the ball in when he started to feel discomfort.
“Straight away I thought ‘oh jeez, that hurt’,” Smith said. “That was a similar sort of feeling to when I ruptured my ligament back in 2019, so I was a little bit worried for a little bit. But scans showed fortunately my ligament is still intact, the one that I got repaired. I’ve got a little bit of muscle damage, and it’s a small millimetre of the ligament on the bone that’s doing something.”
Smith went on to say he thinks the problem could have been caused by a punch he received from Jhye Richardson earlier in the BBL, which caused a large bruise on his right shoulder and caused him to modify his throwing method in order to make up for it.
Although Smith has been cleared of serious elbow issues, his ability to throw in the field may be restricted since he will mostly be a close catcher in a series where spin is likely to dominate, so that shouldn’t be a significant concern.
Smith will start the Sri Lanka series on 9999 Test runs having twice been dismissed within touching distance of the 10,000 landmark during the final Test against India at the SCG.