Steve Smith admits cheating, says senior players hatched ball tampering plot
STEVE Smith says he will not stand down as Australian captain but admitted he and the leadership group were responsible for a ball tampering incident that could cost Cameron Bancroft dearly.
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READERS VERDICT: Public call for Smith’s head
CAMERON Bancroft has been charged with ball tampering as he and Steve Smith admitted the leadership group were responsible for attempting to rough up the ball during Australia’s Test against South Africa.
The incident is deeply shameful for Australian cricket and will leave a stain for decades to come in much the same way the underarm incident did in 1981.
Broadcast cameras caught Bancroft using a piece of sandpaper to gather grit from the wicket in an attempt to alter the ball.
While Bancroft has been charged by the match referee, there is no indication of charges against Smith for conspiring with the fielder but there will almost certainly be consequences.
Smith said he was “sorry” and “embarrassed” but this will not go away quickly.
Cricket Australia’s board must examine the incident and make a stand.
Players involved could face charges from CA for bringing the game into disrepute.
Smith’s position will be examined.
“I won’t be considering stepping down,” Smith said after the day’s play. “I still think I’m the right the person for the job. Obviously, today was a big mistake on my behalf and on the leadership group’s behalf as well. But I take responsibility as the captain, I need to take control of the ship, but this is certainly something I’m not proud of and something that I can hopefully learn from and come back strong from.
“I am embarrassed to be sitting here talking about this. We’re in the middle of such a great series and for something like this to overshadow the great cricket that’s been played and not have a single cricket question in here, that’s not what I’m about and not what the team’s about. We’ll move past this. It’s a big error in judgment but we’ll learn from it and move past it.”
Ball tampering is considered by many to be cheating. Most teams use mints to shine the ball and different methods to rough up the other side but rarely has one been caught as red handed as the Australians on day three of the Cape Town Test.
Questions immediately arose about who put Bancroft, who is playing just his eighth Test match, up to tampering with the ball.
Smith said it was the leadership group, but refused to name exactly who it was. He said the coaches were not involved.
With the team copping an enormous amount of criticism over on and off field incidents during the series the ball tampering controversy is the last thing Australian cricket can afford.
Chief executive James Sutherland put out a press release on the morning of play condemning the anti-social behaviour.
The two incidents are separate but Australian cricket will struggle to take the moral high ground.
Bancroft, who looked deeply shamed after the day’s play, revealed he had used a piece of sticking plaster to gather grit from the wicket in an attempt to alter the ball.
He was filmed by the local broadcaster hiding the tape in his trousers after being alerted to the fact he’d been seen using it.
“I’ve just had discussions with the match officials and I have been charged with attempting to change the condition of the ball, we had a discussion during the break and I saw an opportunity to use some tape, get some granules from rough patches on the wicket to change the ball condition, it didn’t work, the umpires didn’t change the ball,” he said.
“Once being sighted on the screen I panicked quite a lot and that resulted in me shoving it down my trousers.
“We have this yellow tape in our kit and it is connected to some padding but the sticky stuff is very sticky and i felt like it could be used to collect some stuff from the side of the pitch and I have been charged with ball tampering.
“I was in the vicinity of the area when the leadership group were discussing it. I’ll be honest with you, I was obviously nervous about it because with hundreds of cameras around that’s always the risk, isn’t it? I sit before you today and I’m not proud of what’s happened today.”
Smith was grim faced and slightly emotional as he spoke about the incident.
“The leadership knew about it, we spoke about it at lunch,” he said. “I’m not proud of what’s happened, it’s not within the spirit of the game.
“My integrity, the team’s integrity, the leadership groups integrity has come into question and rightfully so.
“It’s certainly not on and it won’t happen again I can promise you that under my leadership.”
It is unclear who else was in on the discussions at the lunch break but the leadership group is thought to contain David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.
“I’m not naming names but the leadership group were what talked about it and Bangers was around at the time and we spoke about it and thought it was a possible way to get an advantage,” Smith said.
“Obviously it didn’t work, the umpires didn’t see it change the way the ball was behaving or how it looked or anything like that, so it was a poor choice and deeply regrettable our actions.
“The coaches weren’t involved, it was purely the players and the leadership group who came up with this and it’s not on and I can promise you it won’t happen again.”
Smith claimed it was the first time the side had attempted such an act.
“We saw this game as such an important game, not that other games aren’t important as well, but an opportunity,” he said. “We’ve seen the ball reversing quite a lot throughout this series and our ball just didn’t look like it was going to go. That’s a mistake on our behalf again. It’s such poor actions and deeply regrettable and certainly won’t happen again under my leadership I can promise you.
“You can ask questions as much as you like but I can promise you this is the first time it’s happened and I think I’ve made it clear, we’re regrettable and we’ll move on from this. Hopefully we’ll learn something from it. I’m embarrassed, I know the boys in the shed are embarrassed as well, and I feel for Cam as well. It’s not what we want to see in the game, it’s not what the Australian cricket team’s about, and being the leader of the team I’m incredibly sorry for trying to bring the game into disrepute the way we did today.”
Smith claimed he would be ashamed even if he hadn’t been caught.
“I think deep down I would yeah,” he said. “It’s not what we’re about, it’s a poor reflection on everyone in that dressing room, particularly the leaders of the group. So absolutely if we weren’t caught I’d still feel incredibly bad about it.”
Bancroft said he was also ashamed of his actions.
“In my short career so far I’ve felt like I’ve sat here and been asked a lot of big questions a couple of times now,” he said. “Unfortunately I was in the wrong place at the wrong time and I want to be here because I’m accountable for my actions as well. Like the captain said, I’m not proud of what’s happened and I have to live with the consequences and the damage to my own reputation that comes with. I’ll do my best to move forward and play cricket.”
South Africa leads by 238 runs with five wickets in hand at the end of the third day in Cape Town and look certain to take a 2-1 lead in the four match series.
Former players believe Bancroft is in serious trouble.
Can we talk about this? pic.twitter.com/cmpRrOArgD
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) 24 March 2018
My 2cents worth - This will be Darren Lehmann’s greatest test as a coach, cos I will struggle to believe that this was all Bancroft’s idea. #SandpaperGate.
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 24, 2018
Allan Border said the incident was “suspicious”.
“If you’re caught doing the wrong thing, you’ve got to pay the penalty,” he said.
Former South African captain Graeme Smith was quick to call Bancroft out for tampering with the ball.
“I think there is a lot of questions that need to be answered and Australia need to answer them,” he said. “Some tough questions have to be asked of Steve Smith and Darren Lehmann.
Shane Warne also said the Australians were in a lot of trouble.
“You’ve got to own up and say what was it that you were hiding,” Warne said. “You can’t have that in the game.
“We’ve got to get to the bottom of it. The Aussies have to be honest and say this is how it happened,” he said. “I don’t have any issue with anyone if they are sucking on a mint or chewing some gum, then that’s just natural saliva. But if you use a foreign object and it tampers with the ball then that has to be seriously looked at. Let’s get to the bottom of what it is and how did it happen. And it’s not fair to nail Cameron Bancroft on it either. I don’t think he would have made that decision by himself.”
Changing the condition of the ball is a Level 2 offence in the Code of Conduct:
“The following actions shall not be permitted (this list of actions is not exhaustive but included for illustrative purposes): (a) deliberately throwing the ball into the ground for the purpose of roughening it up; (b) applying any artificial substance to the ball; and applying any non-artificial substance for any purpose other than to polish the ball; (c) lifting or otherwise interfering with any of the seams of the ball; (d) scratching the surface of the ball with finger or thumb nails or any implement.
Faf du Plessis received three demerit points and lost 100 per cent of his match fee for using a mint to shine the ball in the Hobart Test during the 2016-17 series. The South African appealed, arguing that everybody did it.
He had previously been caught using a zipper on his trousers to rough up the ball.
AB de Villiers (51no) and Quinton de Kock (29no) were at the crease when bad light stopped play after 72 overs.
The Australian looked to have a sniff when they had South Africa 5-201 after conceding a 56 run first innings lead, but it will be hard work chasing 300 against this attack.
Aiden Markram scored 84 to set the side up after being dropped in the first over of the innings by Usman Khawaja.
Stumps board on the third day of the third Test between Australia and South Africa at Newlands today.
South Africa 1st innings 311
Australia, first innings
C. Bancroft lbw b Philander 77
D. Warner b Rabada 30
U. Khawaja c Rabada b Morkel 5
S. Smith c Elgar b Morkel 5
S. Marsh c De Kock b Morkel 26
M. Marsh c De Kock b Philander 5
T. Paine not out 34
P. Cummins c De Villiers b Rabada 4
M. Starc c De Villiers b Rabada 2
N. Lyon c Elgar b Morkel 47
J. Hazlewood c Amla b Rabada 10
Extras (b1, lb5, nb4) 10
Total (69.5 overs) 255
Fall of wickets: 1-43 (Warner), 2-61 (Khawaja), 3-72 (Smith), 4-150 (S. Marsh), 5-150 (Bancroft), 6-156 (M. Marsh), 7-173 (Cummins), 8-175 (Starc), 9-241 (Lyon) Bowling: Philander 15-5-26-2 (1nb), Rabada 20.5-1-91-4 (3nb), Morkel 21-7-87-4, Maharaj 12-3-35-0, Bavuma 1-0-10-0
South Africa, second innings
A. Markram c Cummins b Starc 84
D. Elgar c Smith b Cummins 14
H. Amla c Bancroft b Cummins 31
A. de Villiers not out 51
F. du Plessis lbw b Lyon 20
T. Bavuma c sub (Handscomb) b Hazlewood 5
Q. de Kock not out 29
Extras (b4) 4
Total (5 wkts, 72 overs) 238
Fall of wickets: 1-28 (Elgar), 2-104 (Amla), 3-151 (Markram), 4-196 (Du Plessis), 5-201 (Bavuma) Bowling: Starc 15-2-48-1, Hazlewood 17-4-46-1, Cummins 19-4-47-2, Lyon 16-1-69-1, Smith 1-0-6-0, M. Marsh 4-0-18-0
Match situation: South Africa lead by 294 runs with five wickets remaining in the second innings
Toss: South Africa
Umpires: Richard Illingworth, Nigel Llong (both ENG) TV umpire: Ian Gould (ENG) Match referee: Andy Pycroft (ZIM)