Steve Smith’s abrupt withdrawal from Australia’s return to Newlands has intensified questions over how much longer the 37-year-old will continue in the baggy green cap.
Smith was ruled out with a neck problem, leaving Pat Cummins’ team without one of its most experienced players for the first visit to the ground since the 2018 ball-tampering scandal.
The decision came with little warning and appeared to surprise members of the Australian squad. Mitchell Starc said he only realised Smith would not play when he went out to warm up.
“Didn’t know anything about it until well, I sort of knew something was going on yesterday when I was trying to get my laundry at the hotel and I couldn’t get in the room,” Starc said.
“But I didn’t know he wasn’t playing until I went out to warm up today.”
Australia coach Andrew McDonald had previously suggested Smith’s eventual retirement would merit a prolonged celebration, highlighting the significance of his Test career. But there was no similar sense of occasion around the circumstances of his latest absence.
Starc said Smith had been managing the neck issue since the previous week, although he admitted he did not know what treatment the batter had received.
“He’s obviously been battling that neck since last week. I think I don’t actually know what happened with that, and I haven’t asked. He seems upbeat enough, but I don’t know what treatment or what he’s had done with it so far,” Starc said.
