Australian batsman Steve Smith missed the first two ODIs against England due to a concussion after getting hit on the head with a ball in training. Australia lost the second match in the ODI series. England went to bat first and set up 231 for nine wickets on a pitch hard to score runs on.
Australia had a good start and were only 144 for two but slumped off quickly at 207 all out and lost the match by 24 runs. Australia skipper Aaron Finch played a knock of 73 runs and Marnus Labuschagne scored 48 which didn’t prove enough for the Aussies.
The first ODI was won by Australia and now the series is levelled up at 1-1 with one match remaining. The ODI series being played between England and Australia is a part of the World Cup Super League campaign.
He has ticked every box at the moment: Justin Langer on Steve Smith’s return
Australian head coach Justin Langer told Steve Smith has been training and has completed all the concussion protocols. He will be hitting the nets today, unless he is not feeling well, told Langer.
“Fingers crossed. We know what a great player he is, he got a blow to the head in training the day before the first game, so we’ve been going through all the concussion protocols, he’s definitely tracking in the right direction.
“We’re hopeful he’ll be right for tomorrow, but if he doesn’t come up again, then like always we’ll keep him healthy in mind. Australia coach Justin Langer as quoted by ESPNCricinfo.
“He was just practising, we talk about Steve, he was probably on his 30,000th ball, probably had two or three to go, and the wickets over here, the facilities have been brilliant, but they’re a bit worn because of so much traffic through them over the past few months.
“One ball just didn’t quite get up, he ducked into it and it hit him in the side of the helmet.He did all his running yesterday, did some high speed running, worked hard as part of the protocols, he has ticked every box at the moment, so he will 100% have a bat this afternoon unless he’s not feeling well this morning. He’ll definitely have a hit this afternoon,” he added.
We’ve played well with no cricket under our belts: Justin Langer on Australia’s current form
Australia lost the T20I series 2-1 and are 1-1 in the ODI series with one game left to play. This series is the first game team Australia are playing after the long gap influenced by the lockdown. Head Coach Justin Langer feels Australia have been doing good considering they have just returned from a long gap.
“It’s been disappointing, we’ve played such great cricket throughout this whole tour. You always look below the surface, how we’ve all played our cricket, all the guys have played their cricket from the moment we arrived with no cricket under our belts, it’s been a real credit to the boys.
“Consistently across the board we’ve been really impressive. there’s a few areas we need to get better at though, and that’s part of becoming a great team,” Langer said.
The final match of the series will be played on 16th September at the same ground of Old Trafford. The third match would be the decider for the series which is at level, as of now.