Australia
\nSteven Smith has dispelled doubts about his fitness ahead of Australia\u2019s first Test against Sri Lanka, but Mitchell Starc but still faces a crucial lead-in to overcome a finger injury.
\nThe two stars of Australia\u2019s last tour to Sri Lanka, Smith and Starc, headline a long injury list for the tourists ahead of the opening Test in Galle on Wednesday.
\nTravis Head is also battling to play after a hamstring strain with Glenn Maxwell waiting in the wings, while Ashton Agar\u2019s side strain has cost him a potential Test recall.
\nBut there is good news, at least for Smith and his quad injury after he missed the past three ODIs in the country where he scored a Test century during Australia\u2019s most recent tour in 2016.
\n\u201cIf we were still playing one-day cricket, I would be touch and go, but Test cricket, I will be fine,\u201d Smith told AAP. \u201cTest cricket is a bit easier [on the quad].
\n\u201cI field in the slips, won\u2019t be doing a great deal of running around in the field. And then in these conditions, there\u2019s not a lot of hard running.
\n\u201cThey usually have a few sweepers, and it\u2019s four or one quite often. So there\u2019s not a heap of hard running.\u201d
\nStarc has not played since cutting his finger in the first T20I match more than two weeks ago. He has since had stitches removed and bowled at full pace in the nets with tape applied.
\nHe had planned to bowl for the first time without the strapping on Sunday afternoon, but instead had some minor taping on his left index finger as he ran in for about 20 minutes.
\nMatch officials have dictated that Starc cannot enter the game with his bowling hand taped up, unless he cuts it again during play.
\nEven in that event Starc has found it difficult to grip the ball down the seam in training, meaning he will want to bowl without the taping before Wednesday.
\n\u201cWe have tried to give it as long as we could, because it is in probably the worst spot,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s where the ball comes off last. It\u2019s certainly not to my advantage [bowling with tape on], because it takes away from my grip. \u201c
\nAgar\u2019s injury is also a spanner in the works for Australia. Fingerspin has traditionally been more effective than wristspin in Galle, with Australia opting to keep Jon Holland and Matthew Kuhnemann around as back-ups.
\nSelectors had not ruled out using the legspin of Mitchell Swepson, but coach Andrew McDonald indicated Agar was in serious contention to play his first Test since 2017 before the injury.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Australia Steven Smith has dispelled doubts about his fitness ahead of Australia\u2019s first Test against Sri Lanka, but Mitchell Starc but still faces a crucial lead-in to overcome a finger injury. The two stars of Australia\u2019s last tour to Sri Lanka, Smith and Starc, headline a long injury list for the tourists ahead of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-268398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-sports"},"yoast_head":"\n