Steve Smith isn’t allowed to play for Sydney Sixers in the Big Bash League knockouts: ‘Sad for cricket’

Australia’s star batter Steve Smith was on Friday barred from playing for the Sydney Sixers in the knockout stages of the Big Bash League. Smith’s application to play for the Sixers in the qualifier against Perth Scorchers was rejected after “other states voted against him,” according to cricket.com.au.

Smith was not on the franchise’s playing list due to his commitments to the national team, but the cancellation of Australia’s limited-overs series against New Zealand allowed him to appear in the finals. According to the CA, Smith was not allowed to play for the Sixers due to a rule placed two weeks ago regarding replacement players for squads hit by Covid withdrawals.

“CA introduced a local replacement player pool (LRP) from which all franchises must pick any fill-in – had Smith been placed in that pool, he would have been available to any BBL franchise,” read in a statement released by cricket.com.au.

Moises Henriques expressed his displeasure at the ruling, stating that Smith is “one of the best players in the world” and that IPL franchises pay “multi-million dollars” to have him in their team.

“You now have an Australian captain who is one of the world’s top players. There are IPL teams that pay multi-millions of dollars to have this player as part of their franchise. Advertising, bums on seats, eyes on TVs – I mean, you do the math,” Henriques said, as quoted by the website.

“The team is saying no due to a rule that is two weeks old in some COVID bubble hub. To me, that makes no sense. We’re in the top two without him … so I have complete faith in our local talent to do the job. I think it’s sad for cricket, that’s all.”