Cummins responds to Warner’s blast; signals changes for Black Caps series
The Australian captain conceded more changes would be required to the team.
“Obviously, he had a few hits, so you know I think we were all really confident. We still knew that he needed to pass a fitness test in the morning, and it wasn’t a dead certainty.
“But yeah, unfortunately, he just didn’t feel quite right… He knows his body better than anyone else, so I was definitely disappointed. He’s the best player in the world, vice captain, all those things. But the show goes on. Someone like Josh Inglis was lined up as well, just in case. So it was all good. We moved on pretty quickly.”
Australian batter Steve Smith did not play in the third test against South Africa due to injury. Photo: Themba Hadebe / AP
Smith had told Sundaresan before play on day three that he would not have been able to play without trying a pain-killing injection in his neck on match morning, which ultimately had the effect of making him feel worse.
“I asked him about the bandage that he had there. So, that was because he had taken an injection, like a pain blocker, to see if that does any help,” Sundaresan had said. “If anything, it went the other way. It made it worse, he said. And that made him kind of wobbly on his feet.
“I asked him about the moment when he tried to check the firmness of the pitch, almost toppled over. And he said he just hasn’t been able to really move that beyond a point. And it’s been really giving him a lot of grief. He hasn’t slept too well, or he hadn’t slept well for the first two days leading into that test match, and definitely not on that first night.
“I asked him whether he could have played without the injection. And he feels, nah, it was that bad that he couldn’t have done anything. And he said, ‘Every time I bent down, there was a shooting pain that was going up to my neck’. So, there’s no way he could have fielded at slip or anywhere on day one.”
Smith is now recuperating with a view to being fit to play in the first test against New Zealand in December, which Cummins admitted would likely see further team changes. Marnus Labuschagne seems certain to be dropped.
