Suspended Australian former captain Steven Smith will feature in the 2018 Caribbean Premier League (CPL) for Barbados Tridents. The tournament will begin on August 8 and will run till September 16.
Currently, Steven Smith has been suspended from the international and Australian domestic cricket by Cricket Australia (CA) for one-year due to involving in the ball-tampering incident in last March during the Cape Town Test against South Africa. However, the CA ban doesn’t restrict him to play the lower grade domestic cricket or overseas leagues.
Smith, who recently participated in the Global T20 Canada for Toronto Nationals, will play the 2018 CPL for Barbados Tridents, the 2014 CPL champions. However, it is not the first time when Smith will feature in CPL. In the inaugural edition of the tournament in 2013, Smith had played for Antigua Hawksbills, who had finished at the fifth position in the six-team competition.
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In Tridents, Smith will replace the Bangladeshi all-rounder Shakib Al Hasan, who will not available for the tournament.
Talking about this big signing, Tridents coach Robin Singh said, “It is a huge blow to lose Shakib for the tournament but in Steve Smith we have a truly world-class replacement who can help to bring power to our batting line-up. As a man who has played cricket at the highest level all over the world we are very confident that Smith will be a big success with the Tridents.”
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In the recently concluded Global T20 Canada, Smith’s Toronto Nationals finished at the last position in the six teams competing, but Smith himself impressed with the bat. He was the second most runs scorer for his team in that inaugural edition as he scored 167 runs with the average of 33.40. Smith hit two half-centuries in that competition – 61 against West Indies B and 55*against Vancouver Knights.
Smith has played 155 T20s where he has scored 3,124 runs with the average of 30.03 and also has taken 51 wickets with the average of 19.45. He played his last T20I game for Australia in March 2016. The 29-year-old Smith has played 30 T20Is where he has scored 431 runs and also has taken 17 wickets.
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Meanwhile, another suspended senior Australian cricketer David Warner, who is also running through the one-year suspension period by CA due to involving in the same ball-tampering incident, will also feature in the 2018 CPL as he has already signed for the St Lucia Stars.
