Steve Smith is one of the best and safest slip fielders in Test history, with 200 catches to his record, but he also has a habit of dropping a couple.
One such drop occurred on day three of the present World Test Championship (WTC) Final, with Proteas captain Temba Bavuma receiving a reprieve on the ninth ball of the match.
Mitchell Starc targeted Bavuma’s hips from around the wicket, and as he attempted to move the ball through the on-side, a leading outside edge landed straight to Smith at second slip.
The caveat here was that Smith was standing far closer than he normally would, as all slip fielders had shifted closer due to the lack of bounce on the surface.
Steve Smith stood so close that he was wearing a helmet.
The catch fell down because it came too fast for Smith, but the bigger problem for Australia was that their talisman raced to the dressing room almost immediately, grimacing in pain. The physios assisted him to the dressing room, but Smith was in excruciating pain and bit his hand on the way back to the pavilion.
There’s no information about the injury but it looked like the former Aussie skipper had dislocated or fractured one of his fingers while attempting to take the catch.
It’s a massive concern for Australia as in a couple of weeks’ time, they have a three-Test series away in West Indies coming up.
India
