Captain Cummins keen for return of “huge asset” Smith

• Second Test starts Thursday midnight
• Smith is set to return
• Inglis expected to sit out
• SEN will live stream every ball
• Captain Cummins keen to have Smith back

Australia captain Pat Cummins is looking forward to welcoming Steve Smith back into the Test fold.

The Aussies will likely make just one change for the second Test against the West Indies in Grenada.

National selectors made a pair of changes after the World Test Championship Final loss to South Africa, bringing in Sam Konstas and Josh Inglis to replace the injured Smith and omitted Marnus Labuschagne.

Smith suffered a compound dislocation of his right pinky finger at Lord’s and was forced to sit out the opening Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy series in Barbados.

But the vice-captain has since recovered from surgery and has linked up with his teammates for a lengthy training session ahead of Thursday night’s second Test kick-off.

Smith tested his hand in an interesting New York net session and Cummins is confident he'll quickly rediscover his form.

“Any side that Steve Smith is in is a better side for it,” Cummins told SEN Cricket.

“He averages close to 60 and has scored runs all over the world, so having that guy who can think on his feet and the class in the middle order is a huge asset.

“He’s had a week off and he's come back fresh and ready to go.

“I think he was batting in a baseball cage (in New York) or something, but the week before at Lord’s he looked in great touch, so I'm sure he'll be ready to go.”

Just one change

SEN Cricket’s Adam White is expecting that Smith will replace Inglis - who made scores of 5 and 12 at Bridgetown - at no.4 in the batting lineup, and that should be the only change.

“I went down and watched Steve Smith train today in a three-hour session. It was the first time he’s trained with his teammates since arriving in the Caribbean with that finger injury,” White said on SEN Breakfast.

“He was fine. He was a bit hesitant early. He certainly can’t catch properly and he won’t be in the (slips) cordon, but he did enough to suggest that he will definitely play on Thursday.

“They’ve got another training session tomorrow so he’ll probably have to go through his paces again but I think he will play.

“He’ll take Josh Inglis’ spot and go straight to no.4. I can’t see any other changes.”

White says the Australians were planning on using a second spinner for the Grenada Test but that appears highly unlikely now they’ve seen the pitch.

“The pitch is actually a lot livelier, a lot more green grass on it than what they were expecting,” he added.

“There’s a chance they were going to play two spinners here when they were planning their tour. But looking at the pitch I think they’ll play with the same three fast bowlers (Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitch Starc) and Nathan Lyon.

“So there’ll be the one change with Smith in and Inglis out.”

Risking Smudge?

SEN Cricket expert Bharat Sundaresan said it is unlikely selectors were left with much choice but to bring Smith back in despite the risk it poses.

“He was so keen to get in there,” Sundaresan said on SEN's Whateley. “He's got a new splint on the injury. The first ball faced from Wade he hit it and was happy with himself.

“Batting wise he seems confident. I think he's happy. Fielding wise it is interesting. Initially they were just seeing if he could grab the ball, then they put some more tape on it. He won't start at slip.

“You could argue that because they won the first Test and this is being used as an audition for the Ashes, there may have been some logic to sticking with Inglis.

“But because its no.4 it’s going to be Smith. The rich vein of form he is in he will get his way. From a team perspective it could have made sense to leave him out.

“The series is alive though, so it would be a huge gap to leave Smith out. If they were to lose then the selectors would have a lot to answer for and they have been under pressure in recent days.”

The likely Aussie XI will be:
Sam Konstas
Usman Khawaja
Cameron Green
Steve Smith
Travis Head
Beau Webster
Alex Carey (wk)
Pat Cummins (c)
Mitchell Starc
Nathan Lyon
Josh Hazlewood

The second Test of the Frank Worrell Trophy series starts at midnight Thursday AEST with Australia holding a 1-0 lead after their 159-run victory in Barbados.

You can hear all the SEN Cricket action LIVE on location in Grenada across the SEN network.