Ex-captain has suffered multiple concussions and had to undergo protocols after a bouncer from Anrich Nortje

Australia batter Steve Smith said he was anxious after being hit on the head and facing the prospect of another concussion after a blow playing against South Africa in the first Test a week ago.

Smith is in Australia’s line-up for the second Test that started late due to rain at St George’s Park in Gqeberha on Sunday. The tourists won the toss and elected to field.

The former captain has previously suffered multiple concussions in his career and had to undergo concussion protocols after a bouncer from Anrich Nortje hit him on the helmet last Monday during the second-last day of the clash at Kingsmead in Durban.

“I was a little bit anxious after the hit, to be honest,” Smith said in a television interview on Sunday before the start of the second Test.

“It was a decent knock, and the rest of that day, I wasn’t travelling too well, and I think it was more to do with anxiety, of hoping not to feel what I felt in the past, waking up the next morning and things like that.

“So, yeah, fortunately, I woke up well. I passed all the tests, and things recovered pretty quickly.”

The 37-year-old was assessed on the field by the physio and the doctor, and his helmet was changed as is mandatory for all such hits, but he continued his innings, scoring 27 runs as Australia built a large lead.

But then Smith did not take to the field at the start of South Africa’s second innings on Monday, instead being subjected to the concussion protocols, which he passed.

He returned from the start of the last day’s play on Tuesday to help his side to a 214-run victory and a 1-0 lead in the three-match series.

Smith, who is 28 short of 11,000 Test runs, was the first player replaced in a Test after the introduction of a concussion substitute. He was struck on the back of the head by a Jofra Archer bouncer in the 2019 Ashes Test at Lord’s in London.

He also suffered a concussion after being hit on the head in practice during Australia’s One Day International series in England in 2020 and two months later, back home in Sydney, woke on the morning of the second ODI against India with vertigo and was sick.

There have also been incidents in Sri Lanka in 2022, at the last World Cup in India and last December in the Ashes at Adelaide where he was ruled out of the third Test about 20 minutes before the toss with a vestibular issue, the sensory system located in the inner ear that controls balance and spatial orientation.