There is frustration in the Australian camp that Steve Smith opted not to play the third and deciding Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
Smith arrived at Newlands Stadium hours before his teammates on Tuesday morning (local time) in a bid to prove to himself that he was fit enough to play after sustaining a neck injury during the second Test in Gqeberha.
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Skipper Pat Cummins conceded the previous day in his pre-match press conference that Smith would not be at 100 per cent if he did play, but the decision internally had been made that he was available to play after being cleared by Australian medical staff.
Ultimately though, the 37-year-old pulled himself out just minutes before the toss, forcing the Aussies to make a fourth change to the XI that lost by an innings last Test.
“There were frustrations and, in some cases, anger within the Australian camp around Smith’s decision not to play,” 7Sport’s Tom Morris reported on The New Ball ahead of play on Wednesday.
“This was Smith’s decision alone; the Australian team believed he was fit to play, they selected him to play, and he decided to pull out.”
Seven’s Bharat Sundaresan said it was a decision that had been brewing in the days before the Test started.
“I think it’s played out over the course of three days here at training,” Sundaresan said.
“But also if you go back to when the incident happened in the first innings (of the second Test) when he first felt for his neck, from that point on you could see that he was hindered.
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It affected the way he batted in that innings, and definitely the wild shot he played to get out off Rabada’s bowling when Australia were trying to save the Test match, so he was affected there.
“He came here on Australia’s first training day, batted for 15-20 minutes with just a cap on, he didn’t look comfortable.
“The next day, we were told that if he clears the next day’s training session, bat with a helmet, face the bowlers, bat in the nets — he only batted in the nets and he looked OK for a while, but then he finished his session disgusted with a lot of things; with his neck, with just how he was going, and he stormed off.
“But we were still told that he is in the XI, he should be cleared. Because I asked the team management, did he have to wait till the morning of the Test to clear him, they said, ‘No we don’t, we have cleared him’. But then we saw what played out yesterday.”
Steve Smith himself chose not to play the third Test due to his sore neck. Credit: Getty
Smith himself is yet to speak, with Cricket Australia telling 7NEWS he is not ready to talk, but there is a feeling amongst the group that the all-time champion was fit enough to play, and should have, according to Morris.
“There is a suspicion that he should have played through this injury, that he was fit to play, and that for whatever reason, he’s decided not to,” Morris added.
“This is a legacy test match; Cummins, Lyon, Hazlewood, Smith — these are players that are desperately keen to win in South Africa and will not get the chance again to do so (after this tour).
“And for Smith to pull out, there’s no doubt there’s been some noses that have been put out of joint.”
Sundaresan added: “Clearly, and you could hear it in Pat Cummins’s tone at the toss; just the fact that he used the expression, ‘We had to look elsewhere once we realised his neck wasn’t right’.
“It kind of hit the team with a bit of a shock. I don’t think they expected to go into such a big Test match without Steve Smith.
“Maybe it informed their decision to bowl first as well, because suddenly the batting lineup is such a makeshift one, and the most experienced batter in the middle, Marnus Labuschagne, is under so much pressure.”
Steve Smith has likely played his last game in Cape Town, where injury has sidelined him. Credit: AAP
Smith’s omission on the stroke of the first day’s play wasn’t the only surprise of the morning, with Cummins winning the toss and electing to bowl on what looked like a flat pitch.
That decision looked to backfire when the Proteas were 0-140 at lunch before the Aussies arrested momentum back to bowl South Africa out for 329 by the end of the day.
Smith’s omission wasn’t the sole reason Cummins decided to bowl, but it’s hard to imagine it didn’t play a role.
“I think it has a lot to do with the with how the batters have gone in the series, and the fact that they felt that maybe if there’s anything they’re going to get out of the surface, it’s early on. They did not get that, as Mitch Starc informed us,” Sundaresan said.
“But it’s just them backing the 1600-plus Test wickets and going, ‘If we have to make inroads in this game, I’m backing us — the big four five bowlers — and not this batting lineup’.
“And with Steve Smith not there, I think that clearly must have pushed them even further in that direction.”
Morris added: “He’s idiosyncratic, and this is just a thought bubble from me: I wonder whether those idiosyncrasies are wearing thin on some people around him if he isn’t fully committed to this group.
“And if he’s not fully committed, he wouldn’t be the first 37-year-old that is staring down his cricket mortality in the face.
“‘Am I still good enough?’ Probably. ‘Am I still good enough if I’m not a hundred per cent all-in?’ Probably unlikely. It doesn’t take much for someone at 37 to start feeling this way, because it is a long grind.
“I think if Australia wins this Test match, things can be patched, and there’s still probably some conversations to be had.
“If Australia loses this Test match from here, there’ll be some strong conversations between the hierarchy and probably Smith’s teammates and Smith just to ask this simple question: are you with us? Are you fully with us? And if you’re not, that’s OK, because you’ve done everything in the game.
“But if you are fully with us, come on the ride, because we still want you to play for us, and that’s why they’re disappointed that he didn’t yesterday.”
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