Cricketer’s union to proceed with fight to reduce Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft’s bans

DAVID Peever’s resignation as Cricket Australia chairman won’t stop the cricketer’s union from continuing its fight to have Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft’s ball-tampering bans reduced.

Steve Smith is currently serving his suspension for his role in the ball-tampering scandal.

DAVID Peever’s resignation as Cricket Australia chairman hasn’t halted a push from the cricketer’s union to have the ball-tampering bans lifted immediately despite more players saying they should stand.

A submission from the ACA was delivered to CA headquarters late on Thursday as officials worked through the process of accepting Peever’s resignation and appointing an interim chairman, deputy Earl Eddings.

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It’s unclear however when the ACA will get to front the new-look CA board to present its case.

A CA spokesperson said the board had, for the moment, a number of other priorities but would consider it in due course, meaning the bans will stay in place for the immediate future.

Earlier this week Western Australian coach Adam Voges said they weren’t expecting the ban of Cameron Bancroft, who can return on December 29, to be lifted.

Voges said the ACA plan amounted to “false hope”.

New CA chief executive Kevin Roberts has said on numerous occasions there was no “mechanism” for the bans to be lifted, and it still remains highly unlikely.

Steve Smith is currently serving his suspension for his role in the ball-tampering scandal.

But it’s also understood most of the state associations wouldn’t block a change to the bans to at least have the trio return to domestic cricket.

The ACA is however adamant it wants a complete an immediate end to the suspensions of Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft, a view formed in response to the scathing Longstaff review.

According to the ACA, the findings of the review presented “significant new matters” that needed to be considered by the CA board, and they would be “relentless” in pursuing the matter.

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ACA President Greg Dyer, who has no intention of following Peever and standing down to give cricket a clean break from the tumultuous past 12 months, wouldn’t say if the banned players supported the move.

It was a plan that was also questioned by several current and former players and all ACA members, who said the bans should stand.

Should David Warner’s ban be reduced? Picture: Getty

“You always want to see them playing cricket but I think … the punishments are there for a reason,” Test bowler Peter Siddle said.

“They understood the reasons why they got those punishments so I think … it comes down to them, obviously, serving them out, copping the penalty that they got.”

Earlier this week former Test batsman Simon Katich, who was the ACA’s player liaison manager during last year’s pay war and a board member for six years, agreed the bans shouldn’t be lifted.

“I think the players should see out their bans … They admitted what they did was wrong, and they blatantly cheated,” Katich said.

An ACA spokesperson said they accepted there would be a diverse range of views about their move among their members, but they would continue to push for the bans to be lifted.

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Originally published as Cricketer’s union to proceed with fight to reduce Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft’s bans