Friday, February 12, 2010

India v South Africa 2009/10


Graeme Smith bats during a practice session, Nagpur, February 1, 2010
The seriousness of Graeme Smith's finger injury is not yet certain © AFP
Related Links
Players/Officials: Graeme Smith
Series/Tournaments: South Africa tour of India
Teams: South Africa

Graeme Smith, the South African captain, has sustained a finger injury while fielding at the Eden Gardens in the build-up to the second and final Test on Sunday. An x-ray taken at the ground cleared him of any tendon damage and Smith will go to a local hospital for an MRI scan after South Africa complete their training.

Smith was hit on his left little finger during practice and Michael Owen-Smith, South Africa's media manager, said he had strained a ligament on the outside half of the finger. "He had an x-ray on the little finger of his left hand, it shows no fracture at all. We are having MRI scan this afternoon just to be 100% certain of what the injury is. It is obviously some sort of ligament damage, so it is just to establish if it is that. At this stage it has been treated as a sprained ligament."

"I'm pretty sure he would around," said AB de Villiers. "Obviously he is one of those irreplaceable players."

Over the last 20 months Smith has had long-standing injury problems. He first suffered a tennis elbow injury during the IPL in India in April 2008 and that forced him to miss the last three ODIs against England the same year. He later broke his hand while facing Australia's Mitchell Johnson in the third Test in Sydney but bravely batted in the second innings to try and save the game. He missed the subsequent ODI series and decided to delay the surgery on on his injured tennis elbow until after the return series against the Australians at home last year.

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