Steven Smith is building up nicely with his elbow responding well, reveals Phil Jaques
Steven Smith in action during the Ashes 2019
|Getty
The New South Wales head coach Phil Jaques has revealed that Steven Smith's rehab is going pretty well with his elbow responding well to the ongoing training. He also added that the effort is to build up slowly so that he doesn't push his body too hard but things are getting on track gradually.
Australian star batsman Steven Smith is currently missing international cricket, owing to his elbow rehab. He wasn't named in the white-ball series against West Indies and Bangladesh. His elbow issue had flared up following the Test series against India, earlier this year. And the pain increased when he featured for the Delhi Capitals in this year's IPL, which was postponed, due to the COVID outbreak.
Right now, he's undergoing rehabilitation as he's hoping to return to professional cricket with the upcoming domestic fixtures. The New South Wales head coach Phil Jaques gave an update on the progress of his elbow issue and stated that he's building up nicely with his elbow responding well.
"He's been building it up nicely. He's been very conscientious about his rehab and in terms of how long he bats it for, he's building up his time which is great and his elbow is responding really well to it," Phil Jaques told ESPNcricinfo.
The former Aussie opener also went on to reveal that they have taken a slow and steady approach to help Smith with his comeback. Jaques remains hopeful of the senior batsman featuring in the domestic season for the New South Wales side.
"We've taken a really slow approach with him to make sure we don't have too many setbacks by pushing too hard but we are stepping things up gradually. He's definitely moving in the right direction, he's not going backwards. Hopefully he'll be ready to go once the season kicks off. I don't think he really got rid of it last time so it came back…hopefully if he gets the tolerance through the tendon that he needs to then he should be able to manage it."
Earlier, Australia's Test No.4 had made it clear that he would prioritize the Ashes over this year's T20 World Cup. And if he indeed misses out on the ICC mega-event, it would allow him to potentially play five Sheffield Shield games before the one-off Test against Afghanistan at the end of November.
