Former Australia captain Steve Smith returned for a practice session at the nets after undergoing an elbow surgery. The 28-year-old, who is currently serving a one-year ban from international cricket for ball tampering incident, uploaded a video on his Instagram account, in which he was seen facing a few deliveries at the Sydney Cricket Ground.
Captioning the video, the right-handed batsman wrote: “Great to have my first hit back. The elbow is feeling good.” The batsman had undergone the knife in January after being forced to drop out of the Bangladesh Premier League tournament due to the injury.
With both him and David Warner hitting the final month of their respective bans in the ball-tampering scandal, Australia head coach Justin Langer is expecting them to be fit ahead of the start of IPL 2019 season.
Both Smith and Warner underwent elbow surgery in January, with the injury initially expected to delay their return to the Australia national team ahead of the ICC World Cup. But both seem to have shown quicky recovery and are set to make it to their respective franchises in the IPL, with the season 12 set to kick-off on March 23.
As per a report by Cricket Australia, Warner also visited SCG for a nets session on Thursday and met with former South African bowler Morne Morkel, who was also at the ground ahead of a stint with English county side Surrey. Speaking to CA, Morkel said: “It’s the first time I’ve seen Davey since South Africa. Obviously, as a cricket supporter, I’m rapt for him to get back on the field. It will be great to see him and Steve (Smith) play and it will be great for Australia as well.”
