{"id":703,"date":"2026-10-22T06:54:45","date_gmt":"2026-10-22T05:54:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/22\/steve-smith-neck-injury-will-he-bat-on-day-5-in-gqeberha\/"},"modified":"2026-10-22T06:54:45","modified_gmt":"2026-10-22T05:54:45","slug":"steve-smith-neck-injury-will-he-bat-on-day-5-in-gqeberha","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/2026\/10\/22\/steve-smith-neck-injury-will-he-bat-on-day-5-in-gqeberha\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Smith neck injury: Will he bat on day 5 in Gqeberha?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last Updated on 45 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey<\/a><\/p>\n

Steve Smith is expected to bat on day five in Gqeberha as Australia<\/a> attempt to escape with a draw. He is yet to bat in the second innings due to a neck complaint, which he was struggling with in the first innings.<\/p>\n

Pat Cummins\u2019 team had a horror day on Wednesday, losing 13 wickets to put the rain-affected Test right in South Africa\u2019s hands. They\u2019ll need a huge effort to save the match on the final day, and Smith will likely have to play a vital role with Nic Maddinson, Marnus Labuschagne, Matt Renshaw and Beau Webster already dismissed.<\/p>\n

Smith was in clear discomfort on the field. Soon after facing 50 balls during Australia\u2019s paltry first innings total of 99, Smith received attention from the physiotherapist and was not his usual self thereafter, playing a host of loose shots before he was dismissed for a 88-ball 28.<\/p>\n

Steve Smith didn\u2019t bat on day four due to neck issue, but is expected to bat on day five<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Australia were asked to follow on after trailing by 326 runs on the first innings. Coach Andrew McDonald said the decision to withhold Smith was for him to get more physio treatment. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt it was best to hopefully get the batting unit through to tomorrow [day five] and then hopefully he\u2019s better placed,\u201d McDonald said, as quoted by cricket.com.au<\/a><\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve seen the physio working on him, so he\u2019ll bat tomorrow. It\u2019s not something that will rule him out of the innings, but it was just a little bit more time than we expected on the back of the first innings.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes he changes his technique when he\u2019s fully fit too, but he was limited in what he could do.\u201d<\/p>\n

Australia finally showed some resistance via a 92-run stand between Travis Head and Marnus Labuschagne. However, the latter\u2019s rush of blood threw a spanner in the works, with the quality South African attack taking a further two wickets. The visitors finished day four at 156\/4, still trailing by 170 runs as Smith watched on with a neck cushion.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have great belief and trust in the skill sets in that room, and in particular tomorrow, we\u2019ll go out there and potentially turn this one around,\u201d McDonald said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf that doesn\u2019t unfold, we\u2019ll go to Cape Town and we\u2019ll reload. We\u2019ll go again.<\/p>\n

\u201cA great strength of this group is on significant setbacks \u2013 and I\u2019ll say this is a significant setback \u2013 we\u2019ve been able to respond.\u201d<\/p>\n

Travis Head is unbeaten on 87 and needs to add plenty more if Australia are to travel to Cape Town with a 1-0 series lead. Smith and Alex Carey are the only other recognised batsmen left, with Scott Boland not out on two as the nightwatchman.<\/p>\n

The post Steve Smith neck injury: Will he bat on day 5 in Gqeberha?<\/a> appeared first on CricBlog<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Last Updated on 45 seconds ago by Charbel Coorey Steve Smith is expected to bat on day five in Gqeberha as Australia attempt to escape with a draw. He is yet to bat in the second innings due to a neck complaint, which he was struggling with in the first innings. Pat Cummins\u2019 team had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-703","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blog"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=703"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/703\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=703"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=703"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cricketkidunyya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=703"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}