NOT ONLY DID THEY CHEAT... THEY WERE LIARS TOO
Damning revelations as Australia send ball-tampering trio into exile
Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have all been hit with careerchanging bans after the extent of their lies and deception during the Australian ball-tampering scandal became clear.
On another breathless day in South Africa, all three were found guilty by their board of misleading match officials during the third test in Cape town. Smith and Bancroft then lied to the media, claiming sticky tape had been used to change the condition of the ball. in fact, it was sandpaper.
Both Smith, heckled with cries of ‘cheat’ as he got a police escort through Johannesburg airport on route to Sydney, and Warner — his former vice-captain and the architect of the plot — have been kicked out of the game for 12 months. Coach Darren Lehmann said he fears for the players ‘mentally’.
Warner has been barred from holding a leadership position again — and may have played international cricket for the last time.
Smith has been disqualified from the captaincy for two years, so when Australia defend the Ashes in england in 2019, he will not be at the helm.
Both have been banned from this year’s iPL by the indian board, missing out on contracts worth £ 2.6million between them, although they are free to play other overseas domestic cricket and grade cricket in Australia.
Bancroft, meanwhile, has been banned for nine months. Both he and Warner have lost their sponsorship deals with sports-equpiment company Asics, while all three players will undertake 100 hours of ‘voluntary service in community cricket’. Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland described the trio as ‘very sad and disappointed and remorseful for what has happened’. it is a staggering fall from grace.
But, to widespread disbelief, Sutherland continued to exonerate Lehmann, insisting his now infamous walkie-talkie chat with Peter handscomb had been to ask Australia’s 12th man ‘what the f*** is going on’ after tv cameras rumbled Bancroft’s wrongdoing.
Later in the day, Lehmann finally broke his silence. ‘the players have made a grave mistake but they are not bad people,’ he said. ‘there is a human side to this. i hope people will give them a second chance. i worry about the three guys mentally.
‘We know we have let so many people down. We are truly sorry. there is a need for us to change the way we play. We need to work to bring the respect back from fans.’
Not everyone agreed with the severity of the punishment. Shane Warne admitted the revelations had been ‘ embarrassing’ but argued: ‘ the jump to hysteria is something that has elevated the offence beyond what they actually did and maybe we’re at a point where the punishment just might not fit the crime.’
And even michael vaughan, who has led the mockery of Australia’s plight, tweeted: ‘ Steve Smith i think is a good guy who made a huge mistake. he needed punishing but i think this is too harsh. Bancroft, who i don’t know, was led astray but deserved punishing but again too harshly. the other guy i really don’t care about.’
Yet the wording of CA’s statement made it clear the players had either withheld the truth or lied altogether — despite Smith and Bancroft earning praise in some quarters for owning up during Saturday evening’s press conference.
Smith, who three months ago was the toast of Australia after leading his side to Ashes glory, was found guilty by the head of CA’s integrity unit iain Roy of knowing about the ball-tampering plan but doing nothing to stop it.
Worse, he was part of an on-field conversation between Bancroft and umpires Richard illingworth and Nigel Llong in which the Australian opener — having stuffed the sandpaper down his trousers — appeared to claim that the only object he was carrying was a black cloth for cleaning sunglasses.
Finally, Smith had made ‘ misleading public comments regarding the nature, extent and participants of the plan’ — a reference to his claim that the team’s leadership group knew what was happening.
this enraged the other members of that group, mitchell Starc, Josh hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, none of whom have been implicated. But the most serious condemnation was reserved for Warner, who was charged with a variety of offences including concocting the plan in the first place, ‘instruction of a junior player’ to carry it out, then attempting to conceal his involvement.
in a phrase that did not immediately tally with CA’s claims that the Cape town incident was a one-off, he was also guilty of ‘provision of advice to a junior player regarding how a ball could be artificially altered, including demonstrating how it could be done’.
it is understood that Warner may appeal against the ruling. For now, he is persona non grata with his board, his team-mates and opponents. his lucrative sponsorship deal with Korean electronics firm LG will not be renewed when it expires shortly.
Jonathan trott, the england batsman who was mocked by Warner for having ‘scared eyes’ during the Brisbane test of 2013-14, spoke for many when he tweeted ‘Goodbye David,’ accompanied by the image of a waving hand.
Sutherland played down suggestions that his own job was under threat, but did attempt to address the question of whether the players had cheated, having sidestepped it during his press conference on tuesday evening.
‘i think under the code it specifically refers to these practices in which we have made the charges and offered the sanctions as “cheating”. People want to use their own words, but cheating is certainly one of them that is probably appropriate.’
Were the three players liars? ‘Again, if you go to the release, it specifically mentions concern as to some of the comments that were made and not being totally transparent,’ he said. ‘ there was unfortunately an element of mistruth in that process.’
Warner is now an outcast , and sponsors are walking away