BRIDGETOWN: Former Australia captain Steve Smith will continue his return to competitive cricket in the Caribbean Premier League (CPL) next month after signing up to replace Shakib Al Hasan in the Twenty20 league.

The 29-year-old batsman has already played in the Global T20 Canada League since being handed a 12-month ban from international and state cricket for his part in the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the game earlier this year.

Smith is barred from playing first-class cricket for his country or his province but is allowed to play at the club level.

Still the number one ranked Test batsman in the world, Smith replaces Shakib in the Barbados Tridents side after the Bangladeshi all-rounder became ‘unavailable’ for the tournament which runs from Aug 8 to Sept 16, the organisers 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,” Tridents coach Robin Singh said in a news release. “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.”

David Warner, Smith’s former vice-captain who is serving a similar 12-month ban for his role in the scandal, will also be turning out in the CPL having replaced D’Arcy Short at the St Lucia Stars when the all-rounder was called up by Australia ‘A’.

The Tridents open against Guyana’s Amazon Warriors on Aug 12 and will play Jamacia’s Tallawahs in Lauderhill, Fla., before returning to Barbados for five games.

Published in Dawn, July 26th, 2018