Banned Australian trio not invited to Cricket Australia awards

Canberra: The three Australian players banned for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal will not be invited to the Cricket Australia awards night, where a point of intrigue will be whether Cameron Bancroft is awarded votes for his performance in the Cape Town clash.

Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft will not attend the February 11 count at Crown in Melbourne because they are not contracted by CA.

The year-long bans on Smith and Warner do not end until March 28, while Bancroft has also yet to regain a CA contract. His nine-month ban ended last month and, while he has returned through the Big Bash League, he is not centrally contracted.

Any votes the three men accrued through the voting period – namely the opening three tests in South Africa before they were suspended from the final test – will stand but they are ineligible to claim any awards, including the top honour, the Allan Border Medal.

“The official voting procedures for the Australian Cricket Awards, which, for this voting period were agreed between the ACA and CA in January 2018 detail the eligibility requirements for each award,” a CA spokesman said.

“The eligibility rules for the test, ODI