BBL cricket: Stars slam ‘crazy’ Steve Smith ban | Sydney Sixers, vs Perth Scorchers

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Steve Smith won’t be allowed to suit up for the Sydney Sixers in the BBL finals and several Aussie stars have slammed the decision.

Several Australian cricket stars have blasted the decision to block Steve Smith from suiting up for the Sydney Sixers in the BBL finals.

On Friday, Cricket Australia announced Smith would not be allowed to play for the Sixers in their Big Bash qualifying final against the Perth Scorchers on Saturday or take part in any of the finals series.

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Despite the Sixers having a spare spot on their list, a rule introduced on January 10 has barred the club’s favourite son from returning to the fold – replacements must now only be picked from a pool of local players inside the BBL’s Melbourne hub.

The decision was made by the BBL’s technical committee and cricket CEOs around the country were consulted.

After wrapping up his Test duties inside the bio-secure Ashes bubble, Smith had flown to Melbourne with the Sixers and had expected to play, only to be denied the opportunity due to a technicality.

Smith was not contracted to the Sixers this season, unlike Marnus Labuschagne and Usman Khawaja, who have played games for the Brisbane Heat and Sydney Thunder, respectively, since the Ashes win.

However, the decision not to allow Smith to play for the Sixers has been roundly slammed by current and former players, who believe CA has missed a trick by not letting one of Australia’s best players strut his stuff in the BBL.

Many argue CA can’t claim the decision was made to maintain the integrity of the Big Bash, given the Melbourne Stars were forced to use local replacement players when they were ravaged by Covid midway through the season.

Sixers captain Moises Henriques was furious at the call, which he labelled “absolutely baffling”.

“To say (I’m) a little bit disgruntled would be an understatement,” he said.

“You’ve got IPL teams who pay multi million dollars just to have this guy as part of their franchise and we’re saying no because of a rule that’s two weeks old and some Covid bubble hub. To me, I just don’t get it.

“We’re in the top two without him, so I have got absolute belief in our domestic talent and local talent to do the job. I think it’s sad for cricket, that’s all.”

Former Test opener and Melbourne Stars batter Joe Burns said the decision made no sense, tweeting: “Am I the only one who thinks it’s crazy that we pushed on blindly with replacement players simply for content fulfilment, thus losing competitive integrity, yet we won’t allow Steve Smith to be on TVs playing for the team his always represented and led #ReplacementsOverSmudge.”

Sixers all-rounder Dan Christian agreed, saying CA and the Big Bash were shooting themselves in the foot by not allowing him to play.

“@bbl can’t attract the best OS players in the game for the whole comp due to ‘conflicting schedules’ (aka we pay less and it goes for too long),” he said.

“But when 1 of our local Aussie stars unexpectedly becomes available and wants to play, CA says he can’t. Ch7 & Fox must be thrilled.”

NSW paceman Trent Copeland added: “Honestly️. A unique window where our BEST players are available for #BBL11 Finals. The biggest domestic product we have.

“It’s not a Steve Smith thing. Call it player X. This is a have some awareness on what’s important, broadly, fans, viewers, KIDS watching etc. A real shame.”

Originally published as Aussie cricket stars slam ‘crazy’ call to bar Steve Smith from BBL finals



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