HIGHLIGHTS

• Steve Smith was named in the Australian squad for the T20 World Cup
• Smith had taken a break from cricket to deal with a recurring elbow injury
• Bailey said that Smith is not ready for taking Test cricket levels of workload but can play in the World Cup

Australia are confident that Steve Smith will be fit in time for the T20 World Cup later this year, chairman of selectors George Bailey has said. Smith has been plagued by a recurring elbow injury that has forced him to take a break from cricket after the postponed 2021 Indian Premier League (IPL), missing the recent tours of West Indies and Bangladesh to continue his recovery.

Selectors chair George Bailey said on Thursday he was “really confident” Smith would play a big part in the World Cup and Ashes but also revealed the batsman was a long way from being ready for test-level workloads.

“He’s building up nicely. The latest update I had from him is he’s facing up over 100 balls in a session pretty comfortably. That’s about a quarter of what he’d like to be facing for a test match so he’s got a little bit of building up to go there,” Bailey told reporters in a video call.

Smith, 32, has played through pain more often in recent years and might be expected to do the same if the risk-reward trade-off was favourable for Australia’s hopes of winning their first T20 World Cup.

“There would obviously be a number where the risk would outweigh the benefit. We’ve got to place a little bit of trust in Steve as someone who knows his body and knows exactly what he needs to be able to perform at a level that’s required,” Bailey said.