Steven Smith Could Play County Cricket Before Ashes 2019: Reports
Mar 21, 2019 at 3:39 PM
Former Australian skipper Steven Smith is in line to play county cricket prior to Ashes 2019 in England. Multiple reports have suggested that he has had talks with few county clubs and could be up for a county stint.
Although the contract will just be for a game or two as World Cup 2019 ends on July 14 while Ashes starts on August 1.
Steven Smith is all set to make his Australia comeback for World Cup and even if the defending champions fail to qualify for the final, Smith is only expected to play county cricket after the tournament ends completely.
The final league stage game of World Cup 2019 will be played on July 6 with Australia taking on South Africa.
Apart from the World Cup, Smith will also be making his Test comeback and will be key to Australia’s success if they are to retain Ashes.
However, Smith hasn’t played any red-ball cricket for a year now and will not be playing this format until Ashes due to IPL and World Cup. One or two county games before the Ashes will be the best way for him to prepare for Test cricket.
It will be interesting to see whether a county club signs him or not for a matter of just one or two matches.
If he gets a county contract, he will become the second player involved in the ball-tampering saga to play county cricket.
Cameron Bancroft had already signed a deal with Durham last year. He is set to play county cricket from next month. His nine-month ban ended last year in December.
Smith is currently serving a ban period of one-year along with David Warner.
The bans on the duo will end next week on March 28 and both will be playing IPL that starts on March 23.
Both the players are almost confirmed to play World Cup and Ashes.
Smith has already shown interest in playing county cricket and it remains to be seen if David Warner also tries to sign a county deal ahead of Ashes 2019.
Both the players went on to play different T20 league during their ban period and are yet to play a first-class game since the Newlands Test match.