Steve Smith could be fielding at fine leg in Grenada to protect injured finger

Steve Smith will bat with a splint but it’s where captain Pat Cummins will hide him in the field that looms as a challenge for Australia.

Australian captain Pat Cummins says he could send Steve Smith to field at fine leg to protect the injured finger he’ll bat with in the second Test against the West Indies, declaring it was “fun” to be playing at a venue he and his players had never seen before.

Smith will bat in a splint he has to wear for at least another five weeks when he returns to the Australian top order that will be under pressure to perform in Grenada despite victory in the opening match.

New No.3 Cameron Green has been backed in to go again as has teen opener Sam Konstas despite double failures from both in Barbados after Green also recorded two single-figure scores in the World Test Championship final.

But Cummins and coach Andrew McDonald have asked for patience with the pair, but the return of Smith, who comes in for Josh Inglis, brings extra batting steel to a line-up that looked brittle in the first innings of the series opener.

Steve Smith will bat in a splint for the rest of the series.

Cummins said Smith’s finger had “held up well” in training and he had no fear of it hindering the master batter, with fielding his only limitation.

“He’s ready to go, the finger held up well,” Cummins said on Wednesday.

“He was really happy, particularly batting.

“Fielding we still potentially need to manage it a little bit, so he might not be in the slips too often – maybe for spin he’ll be OK, but (for the) quicks he might need to wait another week.

“So you might see him running around a bit more … probably some variation of mid-off and fine leg, (but) we’ll see if he lasts a few days down at fine leg, I reckon he’ll be itching to get up in the circle pretty quick.”

The Grenada venue has hosted Australia in ODIs but never in a Test match and only four Tests across a 23-year period.

Smith checks out the Grenada wicket two days out from the match // Tama Stockley-cricket.com.au

It provides a host of unknowns but Cummins said he was up for the challenge.

“Of course, having that knowledge is going to be helpful, particularly for the guys that haven’t really played too many Tests or first-class games on similar wickets,” he said.

“There’s been four Test matches here, and they’ve all been spread out, so it’s hard to know, but it looked like a pretty good wicket … a pretty even coverage of grass.

“It’s fun coming in when there’s a few unknowns and you’ve got to think on your feet and you’re not quite sure how a game is going to play out.”

Smith in for Inglis is the only change to the Australian team from the opening Test.

Originally published as Steve Smith could be fielding at fine leg in Grenada to protect injured finger