Warner Smith and Starc poised for a return to the Baggy Greens?
Steve Smith and David Warner could return to the Australian cricket team within hours of their bans expiring, following confirmation by the Pakistan Cricket Board of dates for an upcoming ODI series between the two nations.
However, while Smith and Warner will be eligible for national selection again on March 29th when the 12-month bans imposed for their roles in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal are due to end; the fitness status of both players remains uncertain.
On the exact same date in Dubai, Australia will now meet Pakistan in the fourth game of a five-match ODI series which is pivotal in the preparations for this year’s ICC Cricket World Cup in England and Wales.
Yet whether an instant return to the international one-day fold is feasible remains unclear. While the chance to step back into a full blown contest appears temptingly close, remarkably both players are still recovering from elbow surgery.
Of the two, Smith is the least likely to be fit in time for an immediate return to the Australian side as his ban expires. In his case, full fitness looks to be some way off complicated by the fact that his injury and subsequent surgery were more serious than Warner’s. The former Baggy Green’s captain must remain in an elbow brace until the end of February.
Warren Craig of Turning Point Management, Smith’s manager, reported that the surgery had “gone very well”. Speaking to media in early February, Craig added the caveat, “Until the brace comes off we don’t know for sure but all current opinion is that he’ll then have about three and a half weeks [before being in a condition to play].” He went on to say, “The intent is that he will play in the IPL and then the World Cup and then the Ashes,” although any participation in the ODIs against Pakistan would depend on results of a Cricket Australia assessment once the brace has been removed.
Nonetheless, Australia coach Justin Langer is keen for both Smith and Warner to absolutely play as much first class international cricket as possible before the side’s ICC World Cup campaign begins on June 1st.
“(It hinges around) how much cricket they get to play between now and then, but I’m sure we’ll find opportunities,” Langer told reporters at the beginning of February.
Bizarrely, the need for surgery in both cases came about as a result of short spells spent captaining teams in the Bangladesh Premier League. Although Warner continued to play on in Bangladesh once his elbow issue arose, and his procedure is described as a minor “clean up” of the joint, whereas Smith even beyond the brace is set for a lengthy period of rehabilitation.
Langer went on to say, “They’ll find opportunities … but I can’t see anything else (standing in their way).
“We’re talking about two great players. We’re not talking about two really good players, they’re two great players who, on paper, we’d be crazy not to have them in the team (at the World Cup).”
Langer expresses his determination to get both players back in shape and ready to participate in ICC Cricket World Cup 2019.
“We’ve got to keep working on how they are with their elbows first,” he says.
“They’re going to need to get some cricket leading into hopefully coming back into the squad. It’s all part of the management. We’ll have to wait and see what happens there.”
The possible return of both Smith and Warner to play in the final two ODIs against Pakistan certainly makes the matches more compelling for cricket fans globally. Pakistan had hoped the series would be played, at least in part, on home soil, but once again political and security uncertainties have emerged to thwart their sporting ambitions.
Coming back to star players returning from injuries, fast bowler Mitchell Starc is also expected to be available next month for Australia’s one-day series against Pakistan in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) assuming his rehabilitation proceeds to plan.
The left-arm paceman sustained a left-side pectoral injury during his bowling spell on the final day of Australia’s 366-run win in the second Domain Test in Canberra against Sri Lanka, not the greatest outcome from a game in which a he captured 10 wickets for 100 and was named player of the match.
However, the 28-year-old came across as confident that he’d be fully recovered in time for the five-match one-day international tour against Pakistan.
“The UAE is around the 15th of March so if all goes to plan I should be pretty sweet to be available for that one,” Starc confirmed to reporters on the sidelines of the Australian Cricket Awards in Melbourne.
“Obviously the boys go to India; hopefully it’s a good tour for them there.
“I don’t think I’ll be ready for any stage of that.
“So it’s up to the rehab group and the selectors and see how the rest of this summer goes,” he concluded.
The Baggy Greens fly directly to the UAE for the first of five ODIs in Sharjah on March the 22nd.
This gives Starc up to ten 50-over matches in the build up to Australia’s opening World Cup match against Afghanistan at Bristol on June 1st. Which means Steve Smith and David Warner will make seven of those matches at best.
Following the five-match series in the UAE, Australia are slated to play three practice matches in May against a New Zealand side in Brisbane ahead of their two official World Cup warm-up matches, against England and Sri Lanka in Hampshire in the United Kingdom.
Starc, Smith and Warner are all undoubtedly crucial to Australia’s defence of the 2015 ICC World Cup they won in Australia and New Zealand. Remembering of course that it was Starc’s stunning figures of 22 wickets at 10.18 in eight matches that saw him named player of the tournament.
Three of Australia’s top-flight match winners are expected to be back in the ODI squad and playing again in the final run up to the ICC Cricket World Cup 2019. Expat Sport’s Mac McTiernan examines the return of Smith, Starc and Warner and the value of the upcoming 5-match ODI series against Pakistan in the UAE to their match fitness rehabilitation and return to form.
