Steve Smith breaks silence on Sandpapergate saga
Steve Smith has revealed it was a figurative shrug of the shoulders in the Cape Town dressing sheds that cast him into notoriety.
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They were the seven words that cost him $7 million and tore his life apart.
“I don’t want to know about it.”
Steve Smith has revealed it was this figurative shrug of the shoulders in the Cape Town dressing sheds that cast him into notoriety.
The deposed Australian captain on Friday distanced himself from the plan itself but claimed he had a chance to stop the infamous moment when sandpaper was taken out onto the middle by Cameron Bancroft, and instead “walked past”.
Smith admitted that turning a blind eye was his “failure” as a leader and vowed to continue to fight to win back the trust of the Australian public.
In his first press conference on Australian soil since returning distraught from South Africa, Smith denied a rift with banned former deputy David Warner and said it was “too early” to know whether he would ever have ambitions to captain Australian again.
When Smith gave his initial post-play media address in Cape Town just hours after the incident occurred, the skipper included himself in “the leadership group” that spoke at lunch about tampering with the ball as a “possible way to get an advantage.”
Cricket Australia determined in its investigation that Warner and Cameron Bancroft were the only other two players involved in that alleged interaction.
Smith tried to indicate he wasn’t part of an original conversation, but said his failure to stop Sandpapergate in its tracks was his responsibility.
“For me in the room, I walked past something and had the opportunity to stop it and I didn’t do it,” said Smith on Friday at the SCG.
“That was my leadership failure. Something happened out on the field and I had the opportunity to stop it at that point rather than say ‘I don’t want to know anything about it.’
“That was my failure and I’ve taken responsibility for that.
“(I said) ‘I don’t want to know about it’ and walked away. That was my chance where I could have stopped something from happening.
LISTEN! Listen to the entire Steve Smith media conference and his responses to questions around Sandpapergate.
“That’s what I’ve learnt over the past nine months. Every decision you make can have a negative impact if things go pear-shaped.
“Now it’s about learning. (Making) the right decisions more often than not.”
Smith is adamant that sandpaper was never before taken onto the cricket field in his knowledge.
“As far as I’m concerned and aware of, that was the first time it had happened,” he said.
“I can’t judge what other teams around the world do. In any game you play, you want the ball to move, but obviously you want to do it in a legal way.”
There has been heavy speculation of a rift between Smith and Warner since the ball-tampering incident.
They were put on separate flights home from South Africa by Cricket Australia and so far have not trained together – despite both participating in sessions with Australia and NSW.
But Smith indicated he would have no issue taking a field with Warner again.
“Dave and I are fine.”
Smith said he’d been to hell and back on an emotional roller coaster over the past few months and refused to divulge on whether he had ambitions to once again lead his country.
“At the moment I’m pretty content with where I’m at. The next three months are about preparing as well as I can to be part of the World Cup and the Ashes,” he said.
“It’s too early to say to be honest (about captaining again). I just want to get back playing … we’ll see what the future holds.”
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Originally published as Steve Smith breaks silence on Sandpapergate saga
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