Steve Smith will not be part of the Big Bash final after another request to make him available for selection was declined by the Australian Cricket Board.
After the Sydney Sixers were hit by the COVID-19 crisis in their camp and had to struggle with injury issues of some players they had made a third appeal for Steve to be able to play the final against Perth Scorchers on Friday night.
The officials believed that there was enough batting cover available for the Sydney Sixers in the local replacement pool despite missing out on three players due to COVID-19 and another two due to injury issues.
Mickey Edwards, Jack Edwards, and Josh Philippe are all tested positive for COVID-19 and Jordan Silk has been out of the final team selection due to a hamstring injury.
Daniel Hughes will be subject to pass the match fitness test before being able to be part of the team after missing a game on Wednesday due to an injury. Skipper Moises Henriques and Steve O’Keefe will be part of the finals after being revealed fit to play.
Sydney had made an application to contact Smith before the finals last week after he became available as the New Zealand ODI series had been postponed. However, this was dismissed by the Australian Cricket board and other teams as it was previously agreed that new players could only be selected from the replacement pool which was allocated to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak in any camp.