Courtesy: ICC/Instagram
In defence of the 281-run total to win the World Test Championship (WTC) final 2025, Steve Smith, the former captain of Australia, dislocated his finger while attempting to take a catch in the slips of South Africa captain Temba Bavuma on the bowling of Mitchell Starc. Before the ball hit the turf, it ended up catching the little finger on the right hand of Steve Smith, causing a sudden dislocation, following which he was in excruciating pain before walking off the field, back to the pavilion at the Lord’s in London.
The incident happened on the second ball of the 20th over of the South African second innings when the score read 76/2, bowled short by Mitchell Starc, which catched the outside edge of the bat of Temba Bavuma before going quickly towards the slip region. Steve Smith, who was stationed at first slip close-in with a helmet on, had next to no time to react to the ball and it hit him flush on his little right finger before his attempt at catching it on the second grab also went in vain.
Seconds later, Steve Smith realised that he had injured his little ring finger before pain clearly seemed to be on his face, and at the same time, the Australian player was clutching his left shoulder as well. The walk off the field at the Lord’s in London along with the medical staff member of the Australia cricket team was quite a tough one for him, trying to hide his face.
Below are the playing XIs of South Africa and Australia for the WTC Final 2025:
South Africa: Aiden Markram, Ryan Rickleton, Wiaan Mulder, Temba Bavuma (c), Tristan Stubbs, David Bedingham, Kyle Verreynne, Marco Jansen, Keshav Maharaj, Kagiso Rabada, Lungi Ngidi
Australia: Usman Khawaja, Marnus Labuschagne, Cameron Green, Steve Smith, Travis Head, Beau Webster, Alex Carey (wk), Pat Cummins (c), Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood
