South African all-rounder Chris Morris will play for the Rangpur Riders in the 2019 Bangladesh Premier League.

The Riders are the reigning champions. Their title defence will be aided by Morris, who has played four Tests, 34 ODIs and 18 T20Is.

He also sports Indian Premier League experience with the Chennai Super Kings, Rajasthan Royals and Delhi Daredevils – and played for the St Kitts and Nevis Patriots in the Caribbean Premier League.

Meanwhile, former Australian captain Steven Smith might be barred from playing in the BPL.

Smith was recruited by the Comilla Victorians in late November as a replacement for Sri Lanka’s Asela Gunaratne. But replacement players are supposed to be selected from players who were in the original draft – Smith was not.

BPL technical committee chairman Jalal Yunus has requested the Bangladesh Cricket Board decide whether Smith is eligible.

‘We had allowed Comilla to sign Steven Smith for the greater interest of the BPL. The bylaws said that a replacement player has to come from the players who were in the draft, and after we allowed Comilla, the other franchises objected,’ said Yunus.

‘Which is why we held the meeting today, but since we couldn’t come to a conclusion, I have now referred it to the BCB.’

Smith is currently serving a ban from international cricket after his involvement in the ball-tampering saga that rocked Australia’s Test tour of South Africa earlier this year.

The ban, however, does not prevent him from competing in domestic T20 tournaments around the world.

He recently represented the Vancouver Knights in the Global T20 Canada and Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League.

Photo: Gallo