Former Australia captain Steve Smith will join the Barbados Tridents for their Caribbean Premier League campaign after Shakib Al Hasan was ruled out of the tournament.
Smith, 29, is serving a 12-month ban from international and domestic Australian cricket as a result of his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal during the Test series against South Africa in March.
The batsman has featured in the Global T20 Canada competition since being suspended by Cricket Australia and he will resume his career when the Tridents face the Guyana Amazon Warriors on August 12.
Tridents coach Robin Singh 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.
BREAKING NEWS : Steve Smith joins @BIMTridents for #CPL18 Welcome to the party @stevesmith49 Read more ➡️ https://t.co/fWm4O0g0hN #BiggestPartyInSport pic.twitter.com/lcRCWJiZ4R
— CPL T20 (@CPL) July 25, 2018
“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.”
No reasons were given for Bangladesh international Shakib’s withdrawal from contention for Barbados.
In late March, then-Australia skipper Smith and his vice-captain David Warner were stripped of their positions and handed one-year bans after opening batsman Cameron Bancroft attempted to alter the condition of the ball with home-made sandpaper against South Africa in Cape Town.
Bancroft, 25, was banned for nine months and coach Darren Lehmann stepped down over the incident.
