Reviews into Australia cricket ‘confronting’ – Taylor

SYDNEY: Two reviews into the state of Australian cricket sparked by the ball-tampering scandal are “confronting”, Cricket Australia board member Mark Taylor warned Sunday ahead of their release.

One is focused on the culture within the sport’s governing body and the other into the national team.

They are due to be made public on Monday, six months after CA commissioned them following the cheating furore in Cape Town this year.

Taylor said there were 41 recommendations.

“I have seen the review. It will be hard-hitting, confronting for CA and for anyone who loves the game of cricket,” the former Test skipper told Channel Nine. “Everything is on the table.” The scandal involved Australian players using sandpaper to alter the flight of the ball in a Test match against South Africa last March.

Coach Darren Lehmann quit in the wake of the uproar and then captain Steve Smith, deputy David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft were banned from the game.

The backlash rocked Australian cricket to its core, undermining the long-held notion that its players were “tough but fair”.