Plea for Aussies to play

Former Australia cricket coach Mickey Arthur believes “it would be good” for shamed trio Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft to be given the chance to play county cricket this summer.

Smith and Warner are serving one-year bans, with Bancroft out for nine months, for their part in the ball-tampering scandal in Australia’s series in South Africa last month.

But Arthur, who coached Australia between 2010 and 2013, said: “It would be good for them to carry on playing because they have paid a big price already.”