Disgraced Smith to face music in Australia
SYDNEY: Disgraced skipper Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were heading home to an angry Australia after being banned for a year over a cheating scandal that has left their careers in tatters and sponsors deserting the game.
Cricket Australia said they had been suspended from “all international and domestic cricket” while opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was exiled for nine months over the balltampering incident during the third Test in South Africa.
Their fall from grace has been dramatic, and fast, with cricket chiefs bowing to uproar at home where sportsmen and women are held in high esteem and expected to act in the best interests of the game.
Authorities also needed to act decisively to counter mounting concern from sponsors over reputational damage.
CA’s response wasn’t enough to save an estimated Aus$20mil (RM59.2mil) partnership with naming rights sponsor Magellan which tore up its three-year contract yesterday after barely seven months.
“A conspiracy by the leadership of the Australian men’s Test cricket team which broke the rules with a clear intention to gain an unfair advantage during the third Test in South Africa goes to the heart of integrity,” said the fund manager’s chief Hamish Douglass.
“Regrettably, these recent events are so inconsistent with our values that we are left with no option but to terminate our ongoing partnership with Cricket Australia.”
The financial cost for the players is also growing with sporting goods company ASICS ending its relationship with Warner and Bancroft. Electronics giant LG axed Warner on Wednesday.
Other team sponsors, including Qantas and Commonwealth Bank, have voiced their deep disappointment over the scandal but so far have taken no action.
Smith, a golden boy compared to Donald Bradman for his batting exploits, is reportedly a broken man.
He was jeered as he made his way through Johannesburg airport on Wednesday surrounded by police and media and will face the music at home.
There are also concerns over his mental state in the current rabid climate, with coach Darren Lehmann calling for all three men to be “given a second chance”.
TheAustraliannewspaper said Smith, used to being on a pedestal, had been a tearful wreck since the scandal broke and there were fears that his life might unravel during his exile.
“He deserves to feel the pain of exile,” the newspaper said. “But then another mission starts to ensure the grief that is crippling him at the moment does not destroy him.”
Smith – the world’s number one Test batsman – was charged with knowledge of the potential ball-altering plan, while Warner was charged with developing the plot and instructing Bancroft to carry it out.
CA said Bancroft, who has played just eight Tests, had attempted to “artificially alter the condition of the ball using sandpaper”.
CA added Smith had continued to try to cover up the plot by issuing “misleading public comments regarding the nature, extent and participants of the plan”.
Meanwhile, coach Lehmann said yesterday he would quit after the fourth and final Test of a series in South Africa.
“This will be my last Test as head coach of the Australian cricket team,” Lehmann told a press conference on the eve of the match.
Lehmann, who was not was due to leave the job until after the 2019 Ashes series in England, is quitting despite being cleared of any role in the balltampering scandal that has rocked the sport. — AFP