Steven Smith’s prospects of making the BBL final are officially over

Steven Smith will not play in the Big Bash League final after Cricket Australia turned down another attempt to make him available for selection. The Sixers made a third appeal for Smith to be permitted to play in Friday night’s final against the Perth Scorchers, despite being plagued by injuries and Covid-19 instances among their playing group.

However, AAP has learned that that request was turned down late on Thursday, with Smith no longer on standby for the game and the Sixers having moved on.

Officials are reported to have judged that the Sixers had ample batting cover available in the local replacement pool, despite the fact that they were missing three players due to Covid and maybe another two due to injury.

Coronavirus has infected Josh Philippe, Mickey Edwards, and Jack Edwards, and Jordan Silk has been ruled out of the final due to a hamstring injury.

After missing Wednesday’s triumph over the Adelaide Striker due to injury, Daniel Hughes will have to pass a pre-match fitness test on his ankle in order to play.

After being confirmed fit to play, captain Moises Henriques and retiring veteran Steve O’Keefe will both play through calf injuries in the decider.

As a result, the Sixers will once again deploy a player replacement pool player and assistant coach Jay Lenton behind the plate.

In the final, fellow pool member Jake Carder will play, and Silk will have a third replacement from the pool in Nick Bertus if Hughes is unavailable.

The Sixers had applied to sign Smith before the playoffs last week, but he became available once the New Zealand ODI series was postponed.

Cricket Australia and the clubs, on the other hand, disregarded this when it was decided that mid-season, new players may only come from the replacement pool set up to deal with Covid-19 outbreaks.

When Philippe contracted Covid-19 and Hughes was injured, a new appeal was made before the Sixers’ match against Adelaide, but it was again denied.

The series of injuries from the midweek match prompted a third bid, which was denied on Thursday, effectively ending Smith’s chances of participating.

Several Sixers players have expressed their dissatisfaction with the situation, with Dan Christian asking on Thursday whether anyone could stand in for him as long as they weren’t a Test player.

On Thursday, Henriques said he was “in the dark” about the situation, while Perth captain Ashton Turner said he would have preferred Smith to play.

Due to Perth’s inability to host the BBL game in Western Australia, the final will be played on neutral ground at Marvel Stadium, across town from the Australian Open tennis.