Steve Smith will undergo a surgery on his elbow and is expected to wear a brace for the next six weeks. He was banned for a year following his role in the ball-tampering scandal which erupted in Cape Town in 2018. Smith’s ban period will get over on March but he was playing the Bangladesh Premier League.
It now seems Steve Smith’s return to international cricket could be delayed. His ban is scheduled to get over in March but it remains to be seen how soon he can return to competitive cricket after his surgery.
At the Bangladesh Premier League, Steve Smith managed scores of 16 and 0 for Comilla Victorians. After the two games, Smith had to pull out to tend to his shoulder.
Earlier this week, Australia lost their first ever Test series to an Asian side in history. Following the 1-2 defeat to India, calls grew for Smith and David Warner to return from their bans. Cameron Bancroft, the third cricketer involved in the ball-tampering row, completed his nine-month ban and went on to score a fifty in the Big Bash League.
Smith, in a recent interview, had made some explosive revelations.
Speaking to Fox Cricket during the Boxing Day Test, Smith said Cricket Australia officials had told him that Smith and his colleagues were paid to win and not just play.
“I remember James Sutherland and Pat Howard coming into the rooms there and saying ‘we don’t pay you to play, we pay you to win’.
“For me that was a little bit disappointing, we don’t go out there to try lose games of cricket, we go out there to try and win and play the best way we can.”
