Steve Smith concussion: how Australian batter sustained head injury and why he's out of T20 series v Sri Lanka

The Australian batting hero Steve Smith has been ruled out of Australia’s T20 series with Sri Lanka after sustaining a concussion.

Australia have been playing a five match T20 series against Sri Lanka in which they are currently leading 3-0.

The second T20 match saw Australia win in the super over after the two teams were tied on 164 after their 20 overs.

In the latest match, Sri Lanka limped to 121-6 while it only took Australia just under 17 overs to reach the target set by their opponents.

2021 and the start of 2022 has seen Australia play some of their greatest cricket winning the T20 World Cup back in November before a near complete white-wash of Joe Root’s England squad.

The Aussies have now won the first three of their five match series against Sri Lanka and are looking unstoppable.

However, with Smith now out and recovering from a head injury, it will remain to be seen how crucial his presence is within the team.

In the two matches he played, he scored a total of 23 runs but his experience and fielding expertise will have amounted to a much larger contribution than his batting brought.

How did Steve Smith sustain head injury?

During Sri Lanka’s first innings in the second T20 match, the former captain of Australia attempted what would have been a heroic catch to stop a Maheesh Theekshana ball from hitting the boundary but fell head first onto the ground in his efforts to control the ball.

Cricket Australia have said they will not be bringing in another replacement into the squad but will monitor Smith over the course of the next few days:“Steve Smith has concussion, will be subject to low level protocols for the next few days and full recovery (is expected) in six to seven days.”

Smith took to twitter to quell fans fears by saying: “My head has felt better but I will be ok.”

The batsman is expected to be fit enough to travel to Pakistan later this month for Australia’s tour.

Is this the first concussion Steve Smith has suffered?

This is the second time in a relatively short period of time that the 32-year-old has been rested due to a concussion.

In 2019, Smith was hit on the head by a Jofra Archer bouncer during the second Ashes test against England at Lord’s and ruled him out of the second innings and following Test match.

The tension between Smith and Archer had been increasing at the rate of knots throughout the series, culminating in an exceptional fast, hard-hitting bouncer that sent Smith straight to the ground.

After heroically coming back on the field following a head injury assessment, Smith looked visibly shaken and lasted only a further 12 runs before his wicket fell.

When is Australia’s next match against Sri Lanka?

The fourth T20 match will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday 18 February at 8.10am GMT and the final T20 fixture will take place on Sunday 20 February 2022 at the MCG at 6.10am GMT.

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