Steve Smith, Miller to pad up in Canada
OTTAWA: Former Australia captain Steve Smith, who is serving an international ban, is one of the 10 marquee players named for the proposed Global T20 Canada league.
If the tournament proceeds as scheduled in June, it will mark Smith’s first bit of cricket action since Cricket Australia imposed a 12-month ban on him for his role in the ball-tampering scandal on their tour of South Africa in March.
While the former Australia captain can’t play international or first-class cricket in his country, the ban doesn’t extend to club cricket or global leagues – although his Indian Premier League franchise Rajasthan Royals chose to drop him for the 2018 edition. Smith and Chris Lynn are the Australians on the GT20 list, which also features Shahid Afridi (Pakistan), Lasith Malinga (Sri Lanka), Dwayne Bravo, Chris Gayle, Sunil Narine, Andre Russell and Darren Sammy (Windies) and South Africa’s David Miller.
Oh, Flip it all!
CLERMONT-FERRAND: Playing against Toulouse, former Springbok lock Flip van der Merwe has taken to Twitter to air his exasperation after he was punished for pushing the referee during a Top 14 match last weekend.
The Clermont Auvergne player was running in to clean out at a ruck. The ref was in Van der Merwe’s way so the lock pushed him out of the way.
He floated a short video of the action and added: ‘I love rugby, but I do hate what it has become!! 4 weeks for this? #getoutofmyway’
The referee did not penalise the action, but a disciplinary committee stepped in and a few days later he was slapped with the ban, meaning he was withdrawn from the Barbarians side that played England yesterday. – ANA
The tournament is set to run from June 28 to July 15. It has six teams – five from Canada and one Cricket West Indies representative team – playing 22 matches. The players’ draft will take place this Wednesday, a statement from the organisers said.
With Cricket Australia encouraging the three players penalised for the Cape Town incident to stay in touch with the game, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are also in line for comebacks, although no dates have been set.
While Bancroft was cleared to play in Western Australia’s Premier Cricket league, Warner is expected to turn out for his Sydney club side Randwick Petersham. – African News Agency
Smart move by ICC
DUBAI: The International Cricket Council on Friday banned the use of smart watches on the field of play.
The ICC confirmed in a statement that under the Player and Match Officials Area (PMOA) Regulations, the hi-tech devices would no longer be permitted: “Communications devices are prohibited within the PMOA and no player is allowed to be in possession of or use such a device which is connected to the internet whilst there.
“Smart watches in any way connected to a phone or Wifi or in any way capable of receiving communications are not allowed and as such we will be reminding players that such devices must be surrendered along with their mobile devices on arrival at the ground on match days.” – ANA