DID THEY CHEAT IN ASHES TOO?

Aussies caught in ball-tampering scandal Captain forced to step down — and then banned Broad questions dirty tricks England players are left wondering...

AUSTRALIA vice-captain David Warner has emerged as the central figure in his team’s ball-tampering skulduggery that stretches back to this winter’s Ashes.

Skipper Steve Smith was banned for one match yesterday and fined his entire match fee of £10,000 by the ICC after he admitted the ‘leadership group’ of his team were all in on the premeditated plan to cheat in the humiliating third Test loss to South Africa in Cape Town.

Earlier, on the eve of the fourth day’s play, Smith and his deputy Warner stood down from their positions of responsibility, with Tim Paine taking over the captaincy.

Cameron Bancroft was also docked £7,500 and received three demerit points after television footage showed him holding a piece of yellow sticky tape and then hiding it down his trousers when he realised the cameras were on him.

In a press conference at the end of Saturday’s play, Australia admitted Bancroft was illegally attempting to alter the ball’s condition by applying it to its rough side, increasing the chances of it gathering dirt from the playing area.

However, despite a social media video of Bancroft emerging this weekend appearing to show him shoving sugar in his pockets during a break in play, he is no more than a patsy. Australia only switched to their eight-cap opening batsman as chief ball polisher for this match after Warner aroused suspicion in the second Test at Port Elizabeth, where a dressingroom attendant witnessed him putting sandpaper into his hand strappings.

And Sportsmail understands that in a brazen act during the post-series drinks at the Ashes earlier this winter, Warner revealed his method of altering the ball’s condition to a band of England’s defeated players.

It revolves around the strapping the 31-year-old wears on the thumb and index finger of his left hand. Abrasive substances are then attached to the tape to rough up or dull one side of the ball — a crucial factor in promoting reverse swing.

Oddly, although Warner regularly wears the protective coverings while in the field, he removes them while batting.

Australia avoided detection