Steve Smith was due to return to Cape Town for the first time since the infamous Sandpapergate scandal of 2018, but the batter was ruled out of the third Test against South Africa late on Tuesday morning, after it became clear that his neck injury hadn’t healed enough. It’s a heavy blow for the tourists, who were relying on him in a match that will settle the series.
Australia had been anxious about the 37-year-old’s fitness for days, ever since he hurt his neck in the second Test defeat in Gqeberha.
The signs weren’t good on the morning of the match. Smith wore a heat pack on his neck and looked frustrated, and he then held talks with coach Andrew McDonald and chairman of selectors George Bailey.
He stayed in the Australian changerooms until roughly 30 minutes before the toss, and he didn’t take part in the slips catching practice once he did step onto the field. His preparation had been light as well, because he faced throwdowns for only about 20 minutes during Australia’s main session on Sunday and then had a 45-minute hit on Monday.
Pat Cummins confirmed the news at the toss. The Australian captain said Smith had made one more attempt that morning but wasn’t comfortable, which left the team looking at other options.
“Unfortunately Steve’s neck is not quite right,” captain Pat Cummins said. “He had another little try this morning, but wasn’t happy with how his neck was feeling, so we have had to look elsewhere.”
Australia have made four changes in total, with Josh Inglis, Cameron Green, Cooper Connolly and Nathan Lyon all getting a place in the XI.
Matt Renshaw, who has had a brilliant series since coming back, will open the innings alongside Travis Head. Green is expected to slot in at number four to cover for Smith.
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Smith made his Test debut on 13 July 2010, and Australia have played 157 Tests between then and October 2026. He has appeared in 127 of them, which means the team has played 30 without him (including the Cape Town Test).
The numbers show just how much Australia leaned on him, especially through the middle years of his career. (Stats for Cape Town test to be updated)
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Most of those 29 matches came in two long spells, and a handful were due to injury.
After his debut as a leg-spinning all-rounder, Smith was dropped from the Test side and missed a big chunk of cricket, including series against Sri Lanka, India and the West Indies. He reinvented himself as a specialist batter and won a permanent recall in 2013.
His longest absence came during the 12-month ban, when Australia struggled to replace his runs and lost a home Test series to India for the first time. Once he’d cemented his place as the team’s premier batter, he rarely missed games through injury.
His main misses since then are the 2019 Headingley Test, which followed the concussion substitute incident involving Jofra Archer, and the October 2026 Cape Town Test.
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The record without Smith doesn’t look encouraging, since Australia have won barely a third of those games and lost 14.
Still, the numbers need context, because most of them come from the 2011-2013 and 2018-2019 phases, when the batting group was in transition or under heavy pressure. This is a different situation, as Australia have a settled core and a series that’s perfectly balanced.
The best way to cope is to share the burden. Renshaw has been brilliant since his return, and he and Head give the side an opening pair that has already shown it can set the tone.
Green at number four must bat with the calm of a senior player rather than getting dismissed trying to do something rash. Whereas Inglis and Connolly offer plenty of depth below him.
The bowling looks stronger too, with Lyon back to give Cummins control on a pitch that may turn later in the match. Australia also won’t worry about Smith’s neck hanging over the dressing room any longer.
If the top order puts runs on the board early, the pressure will shift to South Africa, and the tourists can show that this side is more than one man.
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Soham Mukherjee is a content producer and writer, with a focus on cricket, football, tennis and Indian sports. His work has appeared in Goal.com previously, where he has covered the Premier League, La Liga, Champions League, FIFA World Cups and Indian football. Armed with an MA (Master's) in Sports Journalism from Symbiosis International University, he knew early on that his future wouldn’t be on the pitch but behind the pen, shaping narratives about the games he adores.
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