Australia’s assistant coach and former World Cup-winning captain Ricky Ponting was pleased that Steve Smith was hitting the top gear just in time for the World Cup, which will get underway in England and Wales from May 30.
Ponting told the media that Smith seems to have completely recovered from the elbow injury, although he was still feeling lingering effects of the injury during his stint with the Rajasthan Royals in the Indian Premier League.
“I had a good chat to him in India,” Ponting, who coached the Delhi Capitals and has now joined Australia’s support staff for the World Cup, told cricket.com.au.
“As well as he played in a few of the games over there, he still felt he probably wasn’t physically 100 per cent. But you talk to him now and he feels he’s physically 100 per cent. He’s hitting the ball in the areas he wants to hit the ball and you saw today he’s hitting the ball cleanly and hard and moving well, which is a great sign,” the former Australia batsman added.
“From what I’ve seen with those two guys (Smith and David Warner), they’ve slotted back in beautifully and they’re the same people as they were around the group before they left,” Ponting said.
