Smith could miss World Cup due to elbow surgery

NEW DELHI: Former Australia captain Steve Smith could miss the ICC World Cup in England this summer in order to recover from a major elbow surgery, claims a news report.

According to Espncricinfo, Smith’s surgery could see the Australia think-tank keep him out of the World Cup and instead allow him time to gather energy and prepare for the Ashes series, the first Test of which starts on August 1.

KEY MEN

While Australia captain Tim Paine had recently said that Smith and David Warner, both of whom are currently serving one-year suspensions for ball tampering, will have important roles to play in the upcoming Ashes, the timeline for the duo’s return to international cricket is not yet clear.

“Those t wo ( Smith and Warner) have got plenty of runs in the bank. I see us going to the Ashes and them having a huge part in us winning the series,” Paine told reporters after clinching the Test series against Sri Lanka on Monday.

Both Warner and Smith will have completed their suspension on March 29.

At that point, Australia will be touring UAE for a bilateral series against Pakistan. Warner, incidentally, recovering from an elbow surgery himself, is expected to regain fitness by that time, with two of the five matches scheduled after March 29.

Australia head coach Justin Langer had recently suggested that Smith and Warner would both need to get some domestic action before returning to the international fold.

“We’ve got to keep working on how they are with their elbows, first. They’re going to need to get some cricket before coming back into the squad,” Langer was quoted as saying by cricket.com.au.

Saurashtra captain Jaydev Unadkat put the sweep shot to good use against spin and, along with fellow pacer Chetan Sakariya, displayed determination in the face of intimidating fast bowling from Umesh Yadav to bring Saurashtra within five runs of Vidarbha’s first innings total before falling to the sweep himself.

The two, who came in with Saurashtra at 247/9, added 60 runs for the last wicket before a cautious Vidarbha went to stumps at 55/2, an overall lead of 60.

In keeping with the script of the match, the game took another turn on Tuesday morning just when it looked that Vidarbha would take a big firstinnings lead.

Umesh, who has been sidelined from the ODI series in Australia and New Zealand, bowled with venom, hitting the batsmen in the arm, head and finger.

ANXIOUS MOMENTS

It was enough to unnerve them and even send centurion, the Saurashtra wicketkeeper-batsman Snell Patel to hospital for an MRI. Patel was hit on the helmet when he was on 94. Soon after, at 102, the shaken Patel was drawn into edging Umesh’s delivery to the keeper. The MRI report came out fine although he didn’t come out to keep wickets.

Before Patel’s dismissal, Umesh had hit the other overnight batsman Prerak Mankad in the arm. Soon after, he too fell leg-before to left-arm spinner Aditya Sarwate.

“There was not much in the wicket. The spinners didn’t get much purchase in the first half. Umesh had pace and was short and aggressive,” said off-spinner Akshay Wakhare who took four wickets. Sarwate finished

with a fifer.

At 184/7, Vidarbha were set for a big lead. But just like their tail on the second morning, the opposition’s wagged as well. The eighth wicket added 38 and the ninth 22. The hosts, who were letting the game drift away, still had a decent lead in

sight (247/9) but then Sakariya (28 off 82), who has played a couple of good innings on spinfriendly tracks in U-23 games this season, hung around for 117 minutes — almost a session — with Unadkat (46 off 101 balls).

That Vidarbha took the new ball immediately after the 80th