Steve Smith kicked out of overseas comp over rules breach

Steve Smith has been barred from the Bangladesh Premier League in the latest blow for the banned Aussie cricketer.

Bangladesh’s Cricket Board said on Thursday it has barred Smith from the forthcoming Twenty20 tournament following an objection raised by some franchises.

Smith, serving a one-year ban from international cricket and Australia’s domestic Sheffield Shield and Big Bash League, had signed for Comilla Victorians to play in the next edition of the BPL starting on January 5.

He was expected to join the team in mid-January for the second phase of the BPL as a replacement for Pakistani cricketer Shoaib Malik.

“The rule of the tournament is that if a franchise takes a replacement, his name should be in the list of initial players’ draft. But Smith’s name was not there, ” said Bangladesh Cricket Board chief Nizamuddin Chowdhury.

“Some franchises raised objection about it. So we have to bar him from playing the BPL,” he said.

Australia’s ex-vice captain David Warner will however play in the BPL — which concludes on February 8, 2019 — having signed for the Sylhet Sixers as one of their two pre-draft signings.

Smith and Warner were handed a year-long international bans for their roles in a ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricket in March.

The BPL was expected to be Smith’s third T20 league outing — after Canada’s Global T20 and the Caribbean Premier League — since the ban was imposed.

He also recently signed for the Pakistan Super League, which will be played in February and March.

The BPL, which started in 2011, was hit by allegations of match-fixing in its early years.

After a suspension, the tournament resumed in 2015 and has since been staged without serious controversy.

Smith to front media on Friday

Smith will speak to media at the SCG prior to the Sydney Sixers’ training session on Friday, marking his first interview in Australia since repeatedly breaking down during a tearful press conference at Sydney airport in March.

Australia’s former skipper has made few public appearances while serving a 12-month ban for his role in the Cape Town cheating scandal.

However, Smith’s battle for redemption returned to the headlines after a Vodafone campaign he is spearheading was launched during Wednesday night’s Big Bash League season opener.

“I was in a pretty dark space … I’ve certainly had some difficult days,” Smith says in the advertisement.

“But it’s OK to be vulnerable. Everyone makes mistakes.

“It’s about the way you respond to it that’s really important. I want to come back better than I was.”

with agencies