After Cameron Bancroft and David Warner were cleared to play club cricket while serving their bans for ball-tampering, Steve Smith might soon pad up to return to the game as well.
The former Australian captain might be on his way to Toronto to be part of the Global T20 Canada tournament scheduled there next month, according to cricket.com.au.
The Australian cricket website reported that Smith’s team has been approached by organisers of the T20 tournament. The six-team competition has been sanctioned by the International Cricket Council in February, making it the first such T20 competition organised by an Associate nation in North America. It will be held from 28 June to 16 July at Maple Leaf Cricket Club, which is 40km north of Toronto.
The article also stated that, “Cricket Australia is supportive of the opportunity should Smith take part in the tournament.”
West Indies is a sponsor of the league and will be fielding a team, while each squad is to have a minimum of four Canadian players.
The world’s leading Test batsman is facing a 12-month ban for his role in the ball-tampering scandal during the Test series in South Africa in March. The Cricket Australia suspension means he can’t play national, state level cricket or the Big Bash League.
However, in the last week both Bancroft and Warner, the others suspended in the aftermath of the scandal, have gotten clearance to get back to the game at a much lower level. Bancroft was granted special dispensation to turn out for his club side Willetton while Warner will start his road to redemption by playing club cricket with Sydney’s Randwick Petersham.
It remains to be confirmed if Smith, who spent a month in the United States after his press conference in Sydney, will decide to play in Canada.
Meanwhile, the report also said that Warner has started on his 100 hours of community service, which was one of the conditions in their penalty. He is said to have spent time in Darwin at a Power Hitting clinic with Northern Territory women and girls.
