Steve Smith will return to action later this month by participating in the upcoming Global T20 Canada tournament. The former Australia captain was named as a marquee player player for the tournament alongside the likes of Shahid Afridi, Sunil Narine, and Chris Gayle. David Warner has also reportedly entered the player draft.

Smith has opted to donate his match fees – earned from the newly-formed league – to grassroots cricket programs both in Australia and Canada. He will also take part in promoting the game in Canada as a part of his deal with the tournament organizers.

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 as 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 has allowed the disgraced trio to play grade cricket and also permitted the former Aussie captain to take part in domestic tournaments outside the country.

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.