'I lost sight of it with the angle that Mitchell Starc was bowling' - Steve Smith provides injury update after WTC final defeat

Apart from suffering a five-wicket defeat in the World Test Championship (WTC) final and failing to defend the coveted title successfully, Australia encountered another setback as their talismanic batter, Steve Smith, sustained a finger injury while fielding on Day 3 at the iconic Lord's Cricket Ground on Friday, June 13.

However, the 36-year-old offered a positive update on his injury, stating that he will not require surgery. However, he has sustained a compound dislocation of his right little finger. The wound was cleaned, stitched, and the finger was placed in a splint. Smith will remain in a splint for the next eight weeks. However, he may return to batting earlier depending on his comfort and functionality.

"I will be in a splint for eight weeks now and I may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks," Smith revealed after Australia's five-wicket loss to the South Africa at Lord's.

"It will depend on my functionality and what I am able to do, so it was probably the best result I could have hoped for," he added.

Smith suffered the injury while fielding at slips. He wore a helmet and stood a few steps ahead of the orthodox slip position. The Sydney-born said that many edges were not carrying to the slip fielders at the Home of Cricket and that is why he stood closer to the batter to increase his chances of taking a catch. He admitted that visibility and angle played a major role as he dropped a catch off Mitchell Starc's bowling and also injured himself. Temba Bavuma was the batter who got a reprieve and he went on to stitch a match-winning 147-run partnership with Aiden Markram.

"I was standing pretty close with the helmet on and as we saw throughout the game a lot of nicks went short of first and second slip. The plan was to stand pretty close and I lost sight of it with the angle that Mitchell Starc was bowling and it kind of went inside Bavuma's hip and I didn't quite see it until really late and it kind of dipped on me a little bit late too as well," Smith recalled.

"It was tricky, it didn't go in my hand very well and fortunately there is no break there and it just split the skin and dislocated it which made me feel pretty ill at that stage," he added.

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Smith spoke about his love/hate relationship with Lord's, recalling the head injury he faced in 2019 while facing Jofra Archer in the Ashes. However, he asserted that he has loved playing at the iconic venue.

"I have a love/hate relationship with this place now. I have had some good memories here and some not so good ones as well. Getting hit in the head by Jofra (Archer) in 2019 and now having my digit knocked off out here yesterday as well. But it's a wonderful place to play cricket and I have enjoyed it here and it was a real good game of cricket again," Smith said.

Australia will continue to monitor Smith's fitness closely as preparations begin for their Test tour of the Caribbean. For now, his hopes of taking part will depend on how soon he can regain functionality in his right hand.