Disgraced Australian Smith to join Caribbean T20 league

Bridgetown - Suspended Australia captain Steve Smith has signed with the Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League as a replacement for Shakib Al Hasan.

Smith is serving a 12-month ban imposed by Cricket Australia (CA) for his role in a ball-tampering scandal during a Test series in South Africa in March that plunged his national team into disarray.

The world's No 1-ranked Test cricket batsman is barred from playing first-class cricket for his country or his province, but is allowed to play at the club level and has recently participated in a Twenty20 competition in Canada.

The Barbados Tridents announced Smith's signing on Wednesday for the August 8-September 16 CPL, a six-team franchise-based Twenty20 league that launched in 2013.

Tridents coach Robin Singh says it was a setback to lose Bangladesh all-rounder Al Hasan "but in Steve Smith we have a truly world-class replacement who can help to bring power to our batting line-up."

The Tridents open against Guyana's Amazon Warriors on August 12 and will play the Jamaica Tallawahs in Lauderhill, Florida, before returning to Barbados for five games.