Bridgestone, June 30: Australia head coach Andrew McDonald has backed star batter Steve Smith to return from injury and play the second Test against the West Indies, set to begin from July 3. Smith missed the series opener after suffering a finger injury during the World Test Championship Final (WTC) final 2025 vs South Africa at Lord’s.However, Smith has made rapid progress in his journey and is already back to batting practice in New York, as revealed by captain Pat Cummins. Recently, Andrew McDonald also shared an update on Smith’s road to recovery and said that he’s likely to play the second Test.
It’s really about functionality around the finger rather than anything else. There’ll be no risk to the long-term health of that finger. He’ll return, and I think it’s likely he’ll play. Leading into the next game, he’ll have the main session two days out,” Andrew McDonald said as quoted from ESPNcricinfo.
Furthermore, McDonald mentioned that Smith will continue to bat at number four and the rest of the batting order will move around him.
“In terms of why we see him as No. 4, I think we’ve settled on that. We could slide him up higher if we wanted to. He’s been excellent at number three. But I think if you look at the last 12 months at No. 4 and his ability to stabilise that position, two down, arguably our greatest batter, we want to keep him at four and build around that rather than potentially risking too many moves in the order,” he added.
In Smith’s absence, Josh Inglis batted at number four in the first Test but failed to leave a mark as he registered scores of 5 and 12 across two innings. Australia also benched Marnus Labuschagne in the series opener after his failure as an opener in the WTC Final vs South Africa.
If Smith gets fit for the second Test, Inglis is likely to make way for the veteran batter as Australia will aim to take an unassailable lead in the series at National Cricket Stadium, St Georges, Grenada.