Banned

Melbourne/Johannesburg/New Delhi, March 28 

Advertisement

Cricket Australia (CA) on Wednesday suspended disgraced captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner for 12 months each and opener Cameron Bancroft for nine months over a ball-tampering scandal in South Africa. Subsequently, Warner and Smith were also banned by the Indian Premier League (IPL) for the upcoming edition of the T20 tournament.

According to a CA statement, Smith and Bancroft were also banned from leadership positions for 12 months after completing their one-year ban from international and domestic cricket. Warner has, however, been banned from all leadership positions in Australian cricket for life.

The players were found to have breached article 2.3.5 of the CA Code of Conduct, which relates to conduct at any time that is contrary to the spirit of the game, unbecoming of a representative, harmful to the interests of the game or bringing the game into disrepute.

The three will be allowed to play club cricket and were encouraged by the CA to do so “to maintain links with the cricket community”.

The IPL governing council in New Delhi has also decided to bar Smith and Warner from this edition. Both Smith and Warner had stepped down from their captaincy of Rajasthan Royals and Sunrisers Hyderabad respectively. They were retained for a whopping Rs 12.5 crore each. CA said that the two players were “required to undertake 100 hours of voluntary service in community cricket”.

“These are significant penalties for professional players and the Board does not impose them lightly. It is hoped that following a period of suspension, the players will be able to return to playing the game they love and eventually rebuild their careers,” CA chairman David Peever said in a press statement.

Warner chief conspirator 

CA’s investigation found Warner responsible for “development of a plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball” and “instruction to a junior player to carry out a plan”.  The southpaw was also charged with providing advice to a junior player on how to tamper with the ball “including demonstrating how it could be done”. 

Warner also misled the Newlands match officials by concealing his knowledge of and involvement in the plan and did not voluntarily report his involvement.

Meanwhile, Smith’s ban was based on his knowing of the plan but failing to take steps to stop it. Further, the probe found that it was Smith who directed “that evidence of attempted tampering be concealed on the field of play” -- in other words, Smith told Bancroft to hide the yellow object now known to be sandpaper in his trousers. 

Smith was also found to have “misled match officials and others regarding Bancroft’s attempts to artificially alter the condition of the ball” and “misleading public comments regarding the nature, extent and participants of the plan”.

The incident took place on the third day of the third Test on March 24 in Cape Town. 

Bancroft was caught on camera using what was believed to be a tape before attempting to hide the object down the front of his pants moments before the umpires seemingly inquired about the contents of his pockets.

Television footage later showed Bancroft rubbing the ball and then seemingly putting an object back into his pocket. As soon as the incident was shown on the giant screen, the player was questioned in the presence of Smith by the on-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong.

The CA Board, comprising Chairman David Peever, Earl Eddings, Bob Every, John Harnden, Tony Harrison, Jacquie Hey and Michelle Tredenick, as well as former Test players Mark Taylor and Michael Kasporwicz, convened on Wednesday to determine the sanctions imposed on the guilty trio.

Following the announcement, CA has appointed wicketkeeper-batsman Tim Paine as the Test captain on a full-time basis. “CA will provide more details of an independent review into the conduct and culture of our Australian men’s team in due course,” CEO James Sutherland said. — IANS

Lehmann wasn’t aware of the plan: CA

JOHANNESBURG: Under-fire Australia coach Darren Lehmann had no knowledge of a ball-tampering plot by his two most senior players and allegations that he then led a cover-up are false, Cricket Australia said on Wednesday.  Former players have been calling for Lehmann’s head after television footage showed him sending a message out onto the field before Bancroft dropped the piece of sandpaper he was clandestinely using to rough up the ball down his trousers. But Cricket Australia chief James Sutherland said Lehmann was as surprised as the thousands of spectators in Cape Town’s Newlands stadium and millions more watching at home when images on big screens showed Bancroft brazenly cheating. “In Darren’s defence, I do want to clarify that matter,” Sutherland told reporters in response to a question about what Lehmann told 12th man Peter Handscomb via walky talky before he ran on the field to pass the coach’s message onto Bancroft. “He sent a message to say: ‘What the hell is going on?’ He didn’t use ‘hell’, he used another word. Darren wasn’t involved and didn’t know of the plan.” 

Lehmann has been silent since the ball-tampering incident on March 24, after which Smith admitted there was a plan to try and alter the state of the ball to make it reverse-swing.

Findings of CA investigation
Sandpaper was used for ball tampering

The finding from the investigation was that prior knowledge of the incident was confined to three players -- Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft -- and the object to alter the condition of the ball wasn’t a tape, as claimed by Bancroft and Smith, but a sandpaper. 

Key Findings 

Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft have been charged with a breach of Article 2.3.5 of the CA Code of Conduct, namely that their conduct: (a) was contrary to the spirit of the game; (b) was unbecoming of a representative or official; (c) is or could be harmful to the interests of cricket; and/or (d) did bring the game of cricket into disrepute.

Individual charges 

In respect of the individual players concerned, Cricket Australia advises the following: 

Steve Smith was charged with a breach of Article 2.3.5 of the CA Code of Conduct based on: (a) knowledge of a potential plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball; (b) failure to take steps to seek to prevent the development and implementation of that plan; (c) directing that evidence of attempted tampering be concealed on the field of play; (d) seeking to mislead Match Officials and others regarding Bancroft’s attempts to artificially alter the condition of the ball; and (e) misleading public comments regarding the nature, extent and participants of the plan 

David Warner was charged with a breach of Article 2.3.5 of the CA Code of Conduct based on: (a) development of a plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball; (b) instruction to a junior player to carry out a plan to take steps to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball using sandpaper; (c) provision of advice to a junior player regarding how a ball could be artificially altered including demonstrating how it could be done; (d) failure to take steps to seek to prevent the development and/or implementation of the plan; (e) failure to report his knowledge of the plan at any time prior to or during the match; (f) misleading Match Officials through the concealment of his knowledge of and involvement in the plan; and (g) failure to voluntarily report his knowledge of the plan after the match 

Cameron Bancroft was charged with a breach of Article 2.3.5 of the CA Code of Conduct based on: (a) knowledge of the existence of, and being party to, the plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball using sandpaper; (b) carrying out instructions to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball; (c) seeking to conceal evidence of his attempts to artificially alter the condition of the ball; (d) seeking to mislead Match Officials and others regarding his attempts to artificially alter the condition of the ball; and (e) misleading public comments regarding the nature, extent, implementation and participants of the plan.