Graeme Smith ruled out of cricket for at least four months

Graeme Smith

South African Test captain Graeme Smith has been ruled out of action for at least four months due to an ankle injury he picked up earlier. He had to undergo a surgery on his left ankle, and has been advised rest for at least four months following that.

“Smith had a highly unusual operation 10 days ago on his troublesome left ankle,” said Shuaib Manjra, head of the organisation’s medical committee.

Manjra further added, “It is too early to tell with any certainty – he had a highly unusual operation and it is difficult to predict how long it will take for the stress fracture to heal.

“The best-case scenario is that he returns to playing in around four months, but that could stretch to six months or even longer. He had a similar operation in 2011 and we thought we had solved the problem only for it to return six months later. So we will have to wait and see how it goes this time.”

However, Smith is expected to be fit for the home Test series against India later this year, which is likely to start on the Boxing Day.

“This operation will fix the acute problem, but we must find out what is causing the stress and balance the load as best we can. Graeme is a big chap and his bones take a lot of stress. We will continue to manage his playing and physiotherapy schedule.

“He will also have a special boot custom-made in the Adidas laboratory in Germany that we hope will help to take the pressure off the ankle,” Manjra concluded.