Steve Smith reveals he played three Ashes Tests with a serious wrist injury

Steve Smith has revealed he played through pain for much of the Ashes series, but insists the injury he still carries won’t affect his ODI World Cup campaign.

Steve Smith has revealed he played the final three Tests of the Ashes with a tendon tear in his left wrist, requiring an injection to take the field at Old Trafford.

The Australian batsman is currently wearing a brace on his hand, similar to captain Pat Cummins who is in a splint after suffering a fractured wrist early in the fifth Ashes Test.

Both are confident their World Cup plans won’t be compromised as a result.

Smith smashed a big century for Australia in the second Test at Lord’s, but later in the match the champion run-scorer injured his wrist diving in the field during Ben Stokes’ explosive innings on the final day.

Steve Smith appears to favour his left hand during the third Ashes Test. Picture: Ashley Allen/Getty Images

The fact Smith was not playing at 100 per cent for the rest of the series only adds to a picture that Australia was walking wounded the longer the Ashes went on.

Smith attempted to play down the impact the injury had on his batting, but confirmed he did require a cortisone injection to play in the fourth Test.

“It was fine for most parts except for a few shots. Cross bat shots, back foot punches for some reason and then trying to decelerate on the defensive shots were probably the ones that were most painful,” Smith said.

“But once I was in the moment and I had adrenaline running it wasn’t too bad.

“I did something the afternoon at Lord’s when Stokesy was going off. I was fielding on the boundary and I don’t actually remember the incident itself, but I imagine I was diving around a lot that afternoon and I didn’t actually feel it until that night.

“We were having a drink after the game and I was like, ‘geez, my wrist is sore. I don’t know what I’ve done.’”

Australia lost Nathan Lyon with a calf tear after the Lord’s Test, while Cam Green was too sore to be selected for the third Test at Headingley.

Mitchell Starc carried a shoulder problem into the last Test, while Cummins played most of the final Test at The Oval with a broken bone in his wrist.

The toll of playing six Tests in seven or eight weeks was telling by the final stanza of the English summer.

Pat Cummins played most of the final Test at The Oval with a broken bone in his wrist. Picture: Stu Forster/Getty Images

“The tendon tear didn’t show up on the scan I had in the UK, so that was a bit annoying. In between Headingley and Old Trafford I had the scan and had a cortisone just before Old Trafford, four days out,” Smith said.

“Not that (the scan result) probably would have changed anything. But when I got back the other day, when I picked up the bat again it was still sore, and I was like, ‘what’s going on.’

“We had another scan and it showed there was a tendon tear amongst a couple of other things.”

Smith will be out of his brace in 10 days and then soon after should be able to slowly build up to batting again.

Although he will miss the ODI series against South Africa, he aims to be back for warm-up 50-over matches in India ahead of the World Cup.

Cummins is also aiming to be back for those matches after risking further damage by soldiering on in the fifth Test.

“We didn’t scan it until the last day so we didn’t really know what was going on,” Cummins said.

“Batting it really hurt and fielding I felt like I could only use my right hand. I just felt like I didn’t have any function in it.

“It just needs time to heal. It’s not really a bad break. I am wearing a brace, but it should heal fine. I’ve just got to be careful to make sure I don’t fall on it, really. I’ll start bowling this week and I can do gym and running.”

Australia’s T20 squad heads to South Africa on Wednesday led by new captain, Mitchell Marsh.

Originally published as Steve Smith reveals he played three Ashes Tests with a serious wrist injury