‘Groggy’ Smith is set to miss out on Headingley
Gap between matches ‘not in his favour’ Archer bouncer strikes substitute on helmet too
Steve Smith admitted he would have to face Australia’s fast bowlers in the nets at Headingley on Wednesday, but he is set to miss the third Test after suffering delayed concussion from a blow to the neck from a 92mph Jofra Archer bouncer.
Smith had a precautionary scan on his neck yesterday which confirmed he suffered no structural damage, but he will now go through cognitive testing and could be ruled out of the next Test before Wednesday if his condition does not improve. The short gap between Tests – the next match starts on Thursday – is “not in his favour”, according to Cricket Australia, which casts major doubt on him playing in Leeds.
If he nets at Headingley he will also try wearing the helmet stem guards introduced after the death of Phillip Hughes, having previously decided they feel uncomfortable and claustrophobic. Archer’s threat with the ball was underlined yesterday when the fast bowler struck Marnus Labuschagne, Smith’s concussion substitute, on the helmet.
Smith said: “I have to be able to train probably a couple of days out and face fast bowling to make sure my reaction time is in place, so there will be a few tests I have to tick off and I guess time will tell. It is a quick turnaround between Test matches. I’m going to be assessed over the next five or six days, each day a couple of times a day to see how I am progressing, and I hope I will be available for that Test. It is up to the medical staff. We will have conversations, but it is an area of concern, concussion, and I want to be 100 per cent fit.”
Tim Paine, the Australia captain, admitted Smith would have to show major improvement to play on Thursday. “He’s OK,” Paine said. “It was a really nasty knock. He felt OK yesterday and then woke up not feeling his best today. I’m not sure about Headingley. He’ll need to improve.”
Cricket Australia does not have an established return-to-play duration for head injuries apart from a player being removed from cricket for the immediate 24 hours after diagnosis, but the decision on whether Smith plays will be solely left in the hands of the medical staff. The generally accepted medical guidelines require a five-day break, which would take Smith right up to the start of the Test on Thursday.
The decision to allow him back to the crease on Saturday to resume his innings has been criticised by concussion experts because of the risk of further injury. “It may have taken time for the physiological response to result in symptoms so he may very well have been vulnerable to some kind of second impact syndrome,” said Dr Thomas Talavage, concussion specialist at Purdue University in the United States.
Luke Griggs, deputy chief executive of brain injury charity Headway, said: “When facing a 90mph Old Trafford Edgbaston Lord’s The Oval delivery, any impairment of this nature puts a batsman at significantly increased risk of serious – and potentially fatal – injury. A secondary blow to the head can exacerbate the initial injury to the brain.”
Sensitive to potential criticism, CA released a statement yesterday morning insisting the right protocols were followed. As a board, it has led the way in dealing with concussion in cricket. “Cricket Australia statistics show that 30 per cent of concussions in Australian cricket are delayed. It is not uncommon for players to pass their tests and feel well on the day of an injury and then display symptoms 24 to 48 hours later.”
Smith was pulled out of the final day of the second Test when he woke up in the morning with a headache and feeling “groggy”. He then failed the Cogsport concussion test, which tests motor function, reaction time, attention and memory using computerised playing card games. His medical report said he complained of “headache”, “dizziness” “feeling slowed down”, “feeling in a fog” and “drowsiness”. He failed one component of the Cogsport test. Having assured the team doctor “I feel fine” moments after being hit, Smith agreed he had to be removed from the Test when he failed backup checks yesterday.
“I started to feel a little bit of a headache coming on as the adrenalin got out of my system,” he said. “I was able to get a good sleep, which is somewhat rare for me, but woke up feeling a little bit groggy and with a headache again.
“I had some tests done and upon further assessments, it was deemed to be mild concussion.”
Archer was criticised in some quarters, mainly Australian, for not showing enough concern for Smith. “I just tried to get him rattled,” said Archer. “It was fun. I was just trying to get him out really. Honestly I don’t know [what I was thinking] at the time. Seeing somebody go down, you don’t want to see anybody carried off on a stretcher, especially what happened a few years ago [Hughes’s death].”
Meanwhile, helmet neck guards could become compulsory for Australian cricketers, Cricket Australia’s sports medicine chief has said.
While players are encouraged to wear neck guards on their helmets, it is not mandatory. It is believed that the Stemguard developed by the manufacturer Masuri, which is made from foam and plastic, might have mitigated the impact of the blow to Smith.
Alex Kountouris, Australia’s sports science and sports medicine chief, told The Sydney Morning Herald: “We want to make it a requirement to wear but we want to make sure we have the right products – we haven’t seen the products at the moment. That’s to make sure they are functional and not causing other unintended problems.”
MCC member ejected: News, page 3