Warner, Smith to be given county lifelines?

Cape Town - Disgraced Australian cricketers Steve Smith and David Warner could be on the verge of securing county deals in England.

Banned from playing for Australia for a year after their roles in the infamous Newlands ball-tampering saga, Smith and Warner are also not allowed to play provincial cricket in Australia and both lost their IPL deals this year. 

But, if the view of Surrey coach Michael Di Venuto is anything to go by, then all is not lost for Smith and Warner. 

"From an Australian perspective, it is probably important that they play a bit of cricket at some stage," Di Venuto was quoted as saying on Cricinfo.

"I don't know if they are allowed to play in this competition. I know what it states in their sanctions that they can't play domestic cricket in Australia.

"If they are in the right mental state to play cricket and the ECB will have to allow it to start with, then we'd be mad not to look at some of the world's best players potentially playing."

If Smith and Warner were able to get county deals, the English Cricket Board (ECB) would need to agree to it first.