Smith is due to play in the Indian Premier League from April,but his calendar afterwards is unclear with Australia’s international schedule yet to be finalised for the rest of the year.

“Knowing Steve Smith the way I do,for him to miss a game of cricket when we don’t have that much on it must be pretty sore or pretty irritating,” spin great Nathan Lyon said.

“Talking to him just before,he said he struggled to hold the bat. I don’t really know much more about it. For him to miss a game of cricket it mustn’t be ideal. Fingers crossed he’ll be back after he’s done his rehab and recovery.”

Starc’s immediate playing future is also unclear after his father,Paul,died on Tuesday following a battle with cancer.

The left-arm pace ace was given compassionate leave from the national team in December,missing the second and third Twenty20s against India,but returned to play all four Tests.

Meanwhile,Aaron Finch’s World Cup hopes have been given a boost by stand-in coach Andrew McDonald,who said his place in the squad was not up for debate despite an alarming run of outs.

The skipper is coming off lean back-to-back campaigns in the Indian Premier League and Big Bash League,where he averaged 18 from 25 innings at a strike rate of 112,well short of his career marks of 34 and 142. He made just one in the series-opener against New Zealand on Monday.

McDonald said Finch remained a part of Australia’s best T20 team and was confident from what he saw at training the past two weeks a return to form was imminent.

Asked if Finch was a certainty for the T20 World Cup later this year,McDonald was emphatic.

“I would have thought so in my mind,” McDonald,who is not a selector,said. “I can only speak on behalf of myself,but I’d have him.”

Elsewhere,Australia leg spinner Mitchell Swepson faces a lengthy spell on the sidelines after sustaining a rare neck fracture,the Queensland Bulls said on Wednesday.

Swepson,who played three Twenty20 matches for Australia against India in December,felt pain in his neck before the Big Bash League. Queensland said in a statement scans had revealed a stress fracture in the C6 vertebrae,an uncommon injury for spinners. Swepson will be ruled out from bowling for six weeks before undergoing tests again to decide his next course of recovery.

“I’m obviously extremely disappointed that I can’t be out there playing for Queensland right now,” Swepson said,who with 23 wickets was the Sheffield Shield’s top wicket-taker in the first phase of the season in Adelaide. “But I’m trying to remain positive and will be doing everything that I can to get some games in towards the end of the season.”