Australia coach Andrew McDonald has said Steve Smith is ‘likely’ to feature in the team’s second Test against the West Indies, which begins on July 3 at St George’s. McDonald confirmed that the batter’s finger injury is not a ‘long-term’ one and that he has worked hard enough to get the ‘functionality’ back. Smith suffered a compound dislocation in his little finger while attempting a catch against South Africa captain Temba Bavuma in the 2025 World Test Championship final. He was immediately taken to the hospital and later revealed feeling ‘sick’ because of the injury. Josh Inglis batted at number four (scoring 5 and 12) in his place in the first Test in Barbados, which Australia won by 159 runs, courtsey of a brilliant effort from their bowlers. “It’s really about functionality around the finger rather than anything else,” McDonald said, as quoted by ESPNcricinfo. “There’ll be no risk to long-term health of that finger. He’ll return and I think it’s likely he’ll play. Leading into the next game, he’ll have the main session two days out. He’ll [also] train the day before [the match]. If that all goes well, then I’d expect Steve to resume at No. 4.” McDonald also seemed to suggest that Australia have learned from their mistakes and moved on from experimenting with Smith’s position (he played a few matches as an opener last year). “In terms of why we see him as No. 4, I think we’ve settled on that,” McDonald said. “We could slide him up higher if we wanted to. He’s been excellent at number three. But I think if you look at the last 12 months at No. 4 and his ability to stabilise that position, two down, arguably our greatest batter, we want to keep him at four and build around that rather than potentially risking too many moves in the order.” McDonald also requested critics and commentators to show a ‘bit of patience’ with Sam Konstas, the young opener who had two single-digit scores to show for in Barbados. “It felt like he was stuck at times and he was over-aggressive and then [he] underplayed,” McDonald said. “It’s really that balance and tempo. He’s got that there and that’s a step up to Test cricket. He’s got a really good partner down the other end [in Usman Khawaja] that over time, I think, will play out. That’s all we ask for – a bit of patience and time with a young player coming into Test cricket.”