The great Steve Smith will play for Washington Freedom in the second season of Major League Cricket as the Australian influence on the American T20 competition gains momentum.
Smith, 34, will join another great batsman, coach Ricky Ponting, in the capital franchise after the T20 World Cup in the United States, where he still hopes to represent Australia again.
It is a highly anticipated signing, with Smith being named brand ambassador for Washington Freedom last year, while his state team, NSW, has a high-performance partnership with the club.
In a video post on
“I’m also really looking forward to working with Ricky Ponting and his amazing staff again. I can’t wait for the season to start. Let’s go, Freedom!”
When Ponting was appointed Washington coach in February, he made it clear that he hoped to attract top Australian names to the American adventure, noting: “With the relationships I’ve had with some of these guys, I hope that those relationships and the right amount of the money is enough to take them to Freedom.
“There is huge potential, huge scope for growth in the US, even with the IPL ownership model as it is right now, it has the potential to become huge and I want to be a part of that journey along the way.”
Washington finished third in the inaugural season of the six-team tournament last year, and the next edition began on July 4 after the conclusion of the World Cup in the United States and the Caribbean.
Smith has only played four T20 internationals since the start of 2023 and was not wanted in the Indian Premier League auction in December, leaving him lacking in short-form action.
Smith, who owns an apartment in New York, has called the prospect of playing in the United States “cool.”
Speaking about his prospects of making the World Cup squad, he recently told AAP: “I think they’re pretty settled at the top, to be honest, with [Travis] Head, [David] Warner and [Mitchell] Marsh in the top three.
“I’m not really sure what [selectors] I want to do. I’m really not too worried either way. If I’m there, I’m there; If I’m not, I’m not.”
But his signing caps an increasingly strong Australian participation in the tournament.
Adam Zampa and Spencer Johnson will be with the Los Angeles Knight Riders, while Tim David will play for MI New York, the team owned by the Mumbai Indians, with more Australian stars still expected to be signed.
AAP
Sports content to make you think… or allow you not to. A newsletter delivered every Friday.