Could horror injury sideline Smith for West Indies tour?

• South Africa need 69 to win
• Smith suffered a dislocation
• WTC will likely be won on day 4

Australia will need a minor miracle at Lord’s if they are any chance of rescuing their World Test Championship Final hopes.

But their biggest concern will be a sickening injury which has left Steve Smith in hospital.

An unbeaten century from South Africa’s Aiden Markram swung the pendulum on day three after Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood combined for a 59-run partnership before Australia were eventually dismissed for 207 setting the Proteas a target of 282.

With the sun out at Lord’s it was a very different story to a pitch which had seen 28 wickets fall in the first two days.

Markram shared a 143-run partnership alongside South African captain Temba Bavuma with the duo set to resume together on day four at 213/2 needing 69 runs to snatch the unlikely victory.

For Smith however, a nasty injury left him dry-heaving and looking physically unwell before leaving the pitch with medical staff.

Australia’s vice-captain suffered a compound dislocation to his right pinkie finger which, according to reports, will not require surgery, but does impact his chances of touring the West Indies.

Smith sustained the injury while attempting a catch.

“He never made it to the dressing room,” Australian assistant coach Daniel Vettori said.

“The doc and physio got him and took him into a separate room there. They had to deal with that, so we weren’t really up to speed in terms of how gruesome the injury was,”

“We just heard that obviously there was a compound fracture or dislocation, something of that nature.

“We’ll just wait and see what comes back after he is back from hospital.”

SEN Cricket expert Damien Fleming could not help but lament the absence of Smith and the impact it had on the wider team.

"You’d imagine, everything would have to fall into place for Smith to play in Windies," he said.

"Shame for Smithy. Pat Cummins the bowling captain, he uses Smith who is behind the wicket to subtly change the field. It was Uzzy helping there today.

"The missed Smith today his catching and his nous."