Warner won’t captain Australia again Six words that saved Oz coach Lehmann’s job
MASTERMIND Warner plotted ball tampering, says Cricket Australia; twoyear captaincy ban on Smith
NEW DELHI: JOHANNESBURG: Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said Wednesday that coach Darren Lehmann’s furious walkie-talkie exchange with 12th man Peter Handscomb was the crucial evidence that distanced him from the team’s ball-tampering plot.
Captain Steve Smith, vicecaptain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft have all been sent home and banned from top-level cricket for up a year each for their part in the incident, but Lehmann has been allowed to stay in his role.
Television footage of the scandal-hit third Test in Cape Town showed Lehmann relaying a message down to Handscomb after cameras caught Bancroft attempting to alter the ball’s condition with what Australian officials have said was sandpaper.
“I want to clarify that specific point. He sent a message to say ‘what the hell is going on’, except he didn’t use the word ‘hell’,” Sutherland told reporters at the Australia team hotel. “(Cricket Australia’s head of integrity) Iain Roy in his investigation found that to be the fact.
“I am satisfied that Darren Lehmann was not involved and didn’t know anything about the plan,” Sutherland added.
Sutherland said the probe appeared to show it had been an “isolated incident” had been a one-off, but he added: “If there are any credible allegations or suggestions to the contrary we have an obligation to investigate them.”
LEHMANN APOLOGISES
Lehmann apologised to the public and called for forgiveness for the “grave mistake” made by Smith, Warner and Bancroft.
An emotional Lehmann, cleared of any wrongdoing by a Cricket Australia investigation, told reporters that the banned players were “not bad people” and called for them to be given a second chance.
The coach also said the team would need to improve their behaviour on and off the pitch in order to win back fan respect after Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball in the 322-run third test defeat by South Africa at Newlands.
REALITY CHECK
South Africa batsman Hashim Amla said the controversy “gives every team in the world a reality check”. He said the events of Cape Town should lead cricketers to ask: “What kind of cricket do you want to play? It has probably given the ICC a lot more headaches and the opportunity now is for the governing bodies to show us, where is this line?”