Steve Smith Leads Grade Side Sutherland to T20 Title

Cricketnext Staff | Updated: December 17, 2018, 7:52 PM IST

Former Australia captain Steve Smith led his grade side Sutherland to title glory in the New South Wales Premier T20 title at the Sydney Cricket Ground (SCG) on Sunday.

While the Australian cricket team was taking on India in Perth, Smith scored 42 and 19 in the semi-finals and final at a venue he is very familiar with.

Smith scored an unbeaten 42 off 44 balls with just two boundaries in his side's semi-final chase of 113 against St George.

He then made 19 off 11 balls in the final but was knocked over by Students seamer Ben Joy. However, Sutherland chased down the target of 122 in 15 overs.

The final of the tournament was notable for the fact that it was the first time that Smith had captained a team since the ball-tampering scandal in Newlands late last year that saw him stripped of the Australia captaincy.

Once his ban ends he won’t be able to take up any leadership position for the national team for another 12 months.

Smith is currently serving a year-long ban as a fallout of the ban. He will, however, be playing in the Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) and Indian Premier League (IPL) in 2019.