The chances of Steven Smith and David Warner playing the County Cricket (Surrey) looks minimum as of now.
As per a report in Sportstar, the county club has no plans to sign any of the two cricketers.
The chances of these two playing county cricket were gained strength when M di Venuto, the Head Coach of Surrey, said these two could play the domestic matches in England.
Smith and Warner, along with Cameron Bancroft, were banned by Cricket Australia for their involvement in ‘sandpaper gate’.
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While the duo was banned for one year, Bancroft will have to sit out for nine months. The rules in the ban allow all the three cricketers to play grade cricket in Australia and county cricket in England.
It seemed like they will play county cricket as well, but Somerset terminated Bancroft’s contract, thus stating they will not allow a banned player.
There were reports that Surrey was interested in Smith, but now chances of him plying his trade in county cricket look minute.
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Already, Smith and Warner were also banned from IPL, as BCCI decided not to allow banned players to play in the league. Both the players were retained by their franchises and were to lead their teams as well.
While Rajasthan Royals had to hand over captaincy job to Ajinkya Rahane, Sunrisers Hyderabad opted for Kane Williamson as captain. Smith, Warner and Bancroft are open to making a comeback as soon as their ban period gets over.
Both Warner and Smith will have their eye on the 2019 World Cup, where Australia will go as the defending champions.
Australia will also have a new captain in the World Cup, as Smith cannot take the role for two years while Warne will never be considered for the job, again.
On the other hand, Bancroft will eye Ashes 2019. He will have to perform well in domestic cricket to earn a comeback to the national side.
Recently, Cricket Australia also dropped the three players from central contract list, as they were not eligible to be handed contracts over the ‘sandpaper gate’.