Smith to play on despite knee injury

SYDNEY — Test skipper Steve Smith said Sunday he would play on despite niggling injuries and intended to turn out in all of Australia’s international games this season. Smith was rested from the Sydney Sixers’ first two domestic Big Bash League Twenty20 matches as he treats knee and hip complaints. Despite a heavy workload in recent months, Smith said he planned to play in the Melbourne and Sydney Tests against the West Indies and in next month’s one-day and T20 home series against India. “I’d love to play every game. I think this little break is going to be good for me to make sure I can sustain it,” Smith told reporters. “I’m just looking forward to everything else coming up and hopefully being out on the field every game. “I think the rest will do me a world of good. Obviously there is plenty on for the rest of the summer and going forward so a little break is not a bad thing for me. I’m good to go for Boxing Day (Test).” Smith has been playing with a knee injury since the one-day series in England in August. He suffered a flare-up during this month’s first Hobart Test against the West Indies. “(The knee injury) popped up in the one-dayers after the Ashes and it’s sort of stuck around,” Smith said. “It feels okay and then if I dive and land on it just irritates it a bit. “I guess it’s fine going at 90 percent, it’s just if I have to go at 100 percent it’s a little bit sore. “That’s why I’m not playing the T20s (Big Bash) because I’m a pretty competitive guy and it’s a pretty fast-paced game and you’ve got to go 100 percent to do well in this format.” Windies draw with Victoria A two-day tour match between the West Indies and a Victoria state selection ended in a weather-affected draw Sunday, less than a week from the start of the Caribbean side’s second test against Australia. Opener Kraigg Brathwaite scored 78 runs and Jermaine Blackwood added 69 as the West Indies scored 303-8 Saturday before declaring early Sunday. Victoria, led by Jake Hancock’s unbeaten 80, reached 169-3 in reply before rain delayed play and forced an early end to the match. The second Test begins next Saturday at the Melbourne Cricket Ground. The West Indies lost the first Test in Hobart by an innings and 212 runs and the teams will play a third Test in Sydney from Jan. 3.