Finger fracture might rule Graeme Smith out of the Test series against India
South Africa captain Graeme Smith is suspected to miss next month’s home Test series against India after he aggravated a fracture to the fourth finger of his left hand in the ongoing Test against Pakistan
in Abu Dhabi.
The 29-year-old Proteas’ skipper picked up the injury when he was hit a bouncer by the Pakistan express pacer, Shoaib Akhtar, in the first One-Day International last month that ruled him out of the
next two ODIs of the five-match series. The injury got aggravated when Smith returned to the last two One-Days of the same series followed by two Test matches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi. The injured skipper did not come to bat in the second innings of the ongoing
Abu Dhabi Test on Tuesday. And according to the South Africa team manager Mohammed Moosajee, the reason behind that was the finger injury.
"It is the same hand that was injured during the ODI series against Pakistan three weeks ago," said Moosajee. "It was aggravated by the continuous wear and tear involved with fielding and batting and
flared up while he was fielding during the current Test match."
South Africa’s neutral venue series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/New-Zealand-c754 in the Test series in two
months. The finger injury has put Smith’s availability for the first Test against India in doubt. The Test match starts in Centurion on 16th of December. Though the fracture is not a serious one, the http://www.senore.com/Cricket/South-Africa-c757 skipper has a rich
history of hand injuries. The last two-and-a-half years have seen Smith suffering from four separate hand injuries.
Smith, according to Moosajee, has been advised a three-week break by the team doctor but looking at the past injuries of the skipper, the team management is not sure whether he will be available for
the Centurion Test next month. "It will be a race against time to get him fit for the Test series against http://www.senore.com/Cricket/India-c750," Moosajee said. "In our experiences with Graeme, there have been times we said he would need a six-week lay-off and he was ready in four, and other
times we said three weeks and it took him longer."
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