Key Points

On the third day of the pulsating contest, Smith was sent to the hospital after he suffered a compound dislocation of his right little finger while fielding in the slip cordon. South Africa captain Temba Bavuma edged the ball towards Smith, who tried to get hold of the opportunity with quick reflexes but eventually fumbled it, hurting his finger during the process.

With Australia's three away Tests against the West Indies on the horizon, there are concerns about the 36-year-old's availability for the tour, scheduled for June 25. Smith addressed the concerns around his latest setback after the initial diagnosis and affirmed that he is still in the race for an appearance in the Caribbean.

"I will be in a splint for eight weeks now, and I may be able to play with it in a couple of weeks. It will depend on my functionality and what I am able to do, so it was probably the best result I could have hoped for," Smith revealed after Australia's five-wicket loss to the Proteas at Lord's, as quoted from the ICC.

Smith's dropped chance proved too costly for Australia, considering the South African captain was at two. From that moment, Bavuma never looked back and went on to score 66(134) and forge a match-winning partnership with Aiden Markram. During the injury incident, Smith stood close to Bavuma and wore a helmet to deal with the uneven bounce of the Lord's strip.

"I was standing pretty close with the helmet on, and as we saw throughout the game, a lot of nicks went short of first and second slip. The plan was to stand pretty close, and I lost sight of it with the angle that Mitchell Starc was bowling, and it kind of went inside Bavuma's hip," Smith said.

"I didn't quite see it until really late and it kind of dipped on me a little bit late too as well. It was tricky, it didn't go in my hand very well, and fortunately, there is no break there, and it just split the skin and dislocated it, which made me feel pretty ill at that stage," he added.

Smith has developed mixed emotions about the 'Home of Cricket' while taking into account his past exploits. In 2019, Smith was struck on the head by a short-pitched delivery from England tearaway Jofra Archer.

"I have a love/hate relationship with this place now. I have had some good memories here and some not so good ones as well. Getting hit in the head by Jofra (Archer) in 2019 and now having my digit knocked off out here yesterday as well. But it's a wonderful place to play cricket, and I have enjoyed it here, and it was a real good game of cricket again," he said.

- ANI