Steve Smith had been cleared to play Premier Cricket recently and the former Australia skipper is now expected to return to action before that competition by participating in the upcoming Global T20 Canada tournament.

A draft on May 26 is set to determine the rosters for the 19-day tournament and before that, the interested players can register online. Smith has been named as a part of the marquee set, which also consists the likes of Shahid Afridi, Sunil Narine, and Chris Gayle.

Captain Smith and his deputy Warner were stripped of their positions and banned for a year by Cricket Australia, while Bancroft received a nine-month suspension. The trio were involved in the disgraceful ball-tampering incident which took place during Australia’s third Test against South Africa in March, at Newlands.

The CA (Cricket Australia) sanctions prevent the players from making international, state, Big Bash League (BBL) appearance, but the governing body of the game in Australia haven’t raised any objections regarding Smith’s involvement in the Toronto-based tournament.

The West Indies is a sponsor of the Canadian league, which is scheduled to commence from June 28. The 19-day long tournament is the first ICC sanctioned T20 competition organized by an Associate nation in North America.

The six competing teams in the tournament are Caribbean All-Stars, Toronto Nationals, Montreal Tigers, Ottawa Royals, Vancouver Knights, and Winnipeg Hawks. The teams are required to have at least four Canadian players in the squad.