Improving Smith gives Aussies hope of test start

Steve Smith told team-mates he was feeling much better on Monday but remains in a race against time to be passed fit for the third test starting at Headingley tomorrow.

Australia were set to know yesterday whether Smith was any chance to play, with the former captain needing to train in Leeds and then face the team’s back-up fast bowlers in the nets today as well as pass concussion tests.

After grogginess and a headache led to him being diagnosed with delayed concussion by team doctor Richard Saw on Sunday, Smith said he felt better on Monday as the Australian team travelled to Yorkshire via bus.

However, he must still pass a series of tests to mount an unlikely bid to play in Leeds.

Under the terms of the Cricket Australia policy on concussion and head trauma, Smith needs to make a staged return to physical activity, and the initial step would be light training at the team’s main session two days before the third test.

The 30-year-old admits he needs to resume training – and then be able to test his reflexes against Australia’s quicks today – to try and convince medical staff he is fit to play. If he is not well enough to train at Headingley, he could be scratched from the third test by then.

To play again, Smith must also pass the SCAT5 assessment, which tests memory, balance and concentration, and the Cogsport computerised cognitive testing, which is measured against previously recorded baseline results.

He fell behind his baseline results in one component of his Cogsport test on Sunday, according to the report Australia handed to ICC match referee Ranjan Madugalle to apply for a concussion substitute. The report, completed by Saw, said Smith was also experiencing ‘‘dizziness, feeling slowed down, feeling in a fog . . . and drowsiness’’.

The call on whether Smith has recovered properly to play will be made by Saw.

If Smith does play at Headingley, he may well do so with a clip-on attachment to his helmet for additional protection. He has previously not used the attachments, which were developed following the death of Phillip Hughes in 2014.

‘‘I, along with a few other players in the team, find it a bit different [and] uncomfortable,’’ Smith said of the neck guard. ‘‘But it’s something I need to have a look at and perhaps try in the nets and see if I can find a way to get comfortable with it.’’