Smith feared months on sideline with elbow injury

Steve Smith initially feared the elbow injury that has interrupted his preparation for the upcoming Test tour to Sri Lanka might have forced him to spend several months on the sidelines.

Smith, who will captain the Test outfit for the first time since 2023 with incumbent skipper Pat Cummins to miss the two-match campaign in Sri Lanka, arrived in Dubai early today to join his teammates on their week-long training camp.

The 35-year-old took no part in today's practice session at the ICC Academy apart from some fitness work, a bout of physiotherapy on his elbow and the batting tips he shared with rising teenage star Sam Konstas.

But Smith is hoping to pick up a bat in coming days for the first time since incurring the injury in last Friday's rain-affected BBL match in Sydney where he feared he had damaged the same right elbow ligament upon which he was forced to have surgery in 2019.

That setback, shortly before his triumphant return to international cricket at the One-Day World Cup in the UK and the subsequent Ashes series that he dominated, cost him several months out of the game and he initially feared an even longer rehabilitation period from the latest mishap.

"It was in the Big Bash game the other night, I caught Davey (Warner, Sydney Thunder captain) over the boundary and lobbed it back into the field, then threw that ball back in quite hard," Smith said in Dubai today.

"And straight away I thought 'oh geez, that hurt a little bit'.

"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.

"It’s probably going to stop me throwing for a little while, but in terms of batting I'm pretty comfortable I'll be able to get into it and play with some tape on it."

Not only was the sensation similar to what he felt when he first damaged the elbow ligament five years ago, the manner in which the injury happened was eerily similar.

Smith first encountered the problem when playing for Sutherland in the New South Wales final of the then-National T20 Championship club competition at the SCG in December 2018.

He had fielded a ball and fired it back to the keeper when he felt similar pain on the outside of the elbow joint as that he experienced at the same venue last Friday.

Back then, he did not believe it was a serious issue until a month later when he was playing for Bangladesh Premier League franchise Comilla Victorians and – during a fielding drill when he tried to hurl a ball to one of the coaching staff – he heard a loud 'crack' from his elbow.

Instead of rifling into the coach's waiting baseball mitt, the ball landed barely a metre from Smith's feet, and on return to Australia he underwent surgery to repair the damaged ligament which might have required a full elbow reconstruction had he left it much longer.

As it was, he returned to action in less than the four months than was initially prescribed for recovery from the surgery and that was the scenario he feared when he felt the pain during his final hit-out for Sydney Sixers before embarking on the Sri Lanka tour.

Smith believes the latest injury – which is in the same region of the elbow but an altogether different prognosis to his earlier issue – could be attributed to a blow on the shoulder he copped from Perth Scorchers quick Jhye Richardson earlier in the BBL.

That knock, which resulted in a large bruise Smith still sports above his right bicep, might have caused him to slightly alter his throwing technique in order to reduce the level of referred pain, thereby creating a problem in the elbow.

Having delayed his departure to Dubai to consult with a specialist in Sydney on Monday, Smith will observe a modified training program over coming days in the UAE with the hope of being close to full fitness by the time his team arrives in Galle next Friday to finalise Test preparations.

"It's feeling a lot better than it was a few days ago," Smith said today.

"I've got all my movement back, my hyper-extension … is back which is good, so I'm pretty much ready to get into some batting.

"Initially it will start light, my first session back I won't do too much in terms of expansive play.

"I'll probably be batting with some tape on it just to limit me getting into proper hyperextension which I actually did throughout 2019 when I came back in the IPL and in the World Cup.

"I had tape on it then to stop me getting into really end range (of hyperextension with his right arm).

"I managed fine through that and pretty confident it will be right."

Today's hit-out at the ICC Academy saw Australia's top-order batters subjected to more testing conditions against spin bowling after some minor adjustments were made to practice pitches to produce greater variation for bowlers.

Allrounder Beau Webster, who began his first-class career as an off-spinner before taking up pace bowling, reverted to his original craft and gained appreciable bounce and turn which suggested he could prove a valuable option with both seam and spin in Sri Lanka.

And Marnus Labuschagne's speedy leg-breaks also proved challenging as the squad's specialist spinners (Nathan Lyon, Todd Murphy and Cooper Connolly) were rested from bowling today.

Australia's pace contingent – Scott Boland, Sean Abbott and possibly Mitchell Starc (who arrived in Dubai today) – are expected to take the ball tomorrow, along with Webster who will revert to his seam-up skills set for the week's main training session.

Qantas Tour of Sri Lanka

Australia Test squad: Steve Smith (c), Sean Abbott, Scott Boland, Alex Carey, Cooper Connolly, Travis Head (vc), Josh Inglis, Usman Khawaja, Sam Konstas, Matt Kuhnemann, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Nathan McSweeney, Todd Murphy, Mitchell Starc, Beau Webster

First Test: January 29-February 2, Galle (3.30pm AEDT)

Second Test: February 6-10, Galle (3.30pm AEDT)

First ODI: February 12, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)

Second ODI: February 14, Colombo (3.30pm AEDT)