{"id":815141,"date":"2026-10-27T05:10:10","date_gmt":"2026-10-27T05:10:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/815141\/"},"modified":"2026-10-27T05:10:10","modified_gmt":"2026-10-27T05:10:10","slug":"australia-give-steve-smith-chance-to-prove-fitness-ahead-of-south-africa-series-decider-australia-cricket-team","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/815141\/","title":{"rendered":"Australia give Steve Smith chance to prove fitness ahead of South Africa series decider | Australia cricket team"},"content":{"rendered":"

Australia will give key batter Steve Smith<\/a> as much time as possible to \u2060prove his fitness ahead of the third and final Test against South Africa at Newlands, captain Pat Cummins said.<\/p>\n

Smith \u2060injured his neck in \u2060South Africa\u2019s \u200binnings and 31-run victory in the second Test in Gqeberha which levelled the series at 1-1 going into the decider in \u2060Cape Town starting on Tuesday.<\/p>\n

\u201cHopefully, it all goes well and he\u2019ll be there,\u201d Cummins said. \u201cBut we just want to wait for \u2060that last piece of the puzzle [before naming a team].\u201d<\/p>\n

Cummins said Cameron Green would bat \u201cpreferably \u200bin the middle order\u201d, which will likely \u200cmean Matt Renshaw opening \u200cwith Travis Head after Nic Maddinson was dropped from the squad.<\/p>\n

For Smith, it would \u200cbe a return to the scene of his darkest day after his role as captain in the \u201cSandpapergate\u201d scandal that rocked Australian cricket in 2018.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s been awesome this tour,\u201d Cummins said. \u201cIn the last couple of years, probably particularly the last 12 months, it feels like he\u2019s in a really good place and he\u2019s enjoying his cricket.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s getting \u200chimself out [and about], whether it is playing golf or going for coffee club every morning. He\u2019s been super invested in what\u2019s going on and \u200bvery helpful for me out in the middle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Smith has averaged a little over 20 in four innings with the bat and took a blow to the head in the first Test, before injuring his neck in the second.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe looks in total control of how he\u2019s \u2060going about his work. He\u2019s one of the greatest batters we\u2019ve ever \u200bhad. You don\u2019t play \u200b100 odd Tests without matches \u200bwhere you\u2019re not 100% fit,\u201d Cummins said.<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne is hoping to get over a psychological issue around the 30s. Photograph: Themba Hadebe\/AP<\/p>\n

Marnus Labuschagne\u2019s ability to soak up pressure against the new ball and help the batters around him appears likely to give him one more chance.<\/p>\n

Labuschagne\u2019s selection has remained the key talking point ahead of the third Test against the Proteas, after his run of innings without a century extended to 47.<\/p>\n

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The Queenslander has scored between 30 and 49 in six of his past nine innings, while his career average over the past 37 Tests is half what it was in his first 30.<\/p>\n

Australia have made no secret of their frustration with that, with Pat Cummins last week admitting 30s \u201caren\u2019t going to win too many matches\u201d.<\/p>\n

By the same token, Australia do believe Labuschagne is getting through the hard period and batting well, before a psychological issue around the 30s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe focus is on hundreds. I don\u2019t think I\u2019m in a position to defend the performance,\u201d chief selector George Bailey said. \u201cBut in terms of the collective, there\u2019s been times where that\u2019s helped. And that\u2019s the question we keep asking ourselves.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re seeing some good things, yes. Is there a block at the moment around 30s? Yes. He\u2019s still contributing in terms of his ability to get through a number of balls. So it\u2019s a decision around what does that look like if it gets through there.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what does it look like for the collective around and how everyone else, is it helping others around him. Is it helping the team get a result?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Australia will give key batter Steve Smith as much time as possible to \u2060prove his fitness ahead of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":815142,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[1721,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-815141","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-cricket","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815141","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=815141"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/815141\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/815142"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=815141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=815141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=815141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}