Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft’s responses expose David Warner

STEVE Smith and Cameron Bancroft’s character has shone through in their darkest hour — and it’s embarrassing for David Warner.

OPINION

IN their darkest hour, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft have revealed their true character.

So too has David Warner, alarmingly so.

With the ball-tamper-trio still reeling from the dramatic suspensions handed out by Cricket Australia in response to integrity unit boss Iain Roy’s investigation into the Cape Town cheating farce, two members of the group have already quietly gone about their fight for redemption.

Dumped captain Smith — who has been suspended for 12 months, ordered to complete 100 hours of community work within Aussie cricket and ruled ineligible to captain Australia for two years — has reportedly been the star that Aussie cricket teammates, staff and commentators have been most worried about.

Widespread reports questioned Smith’s ability to deal with a 12-month ban.

In actual fact, he’s already shown that he’s going to be OK — and he’s going to make it back from the brink.

Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland must have been reassured by the response when he spoke to the former Aussie skipper in Johannesburg — minutes after he’d been handed the worst news of his life.

“He’s got a very steep hill to climb to rebuild the confidence and faith of the Australian public,” Sutherland said when asked if Smith will ever captain his country again.

“The public and the board, who approve the captains of the Australian teams, are the ones who will decide that or not.

“He’s got that opportunity.

Steve Smith is already on his way back.

“When we were talking about the (100 hours of) community service (that form part of the sanctions) and working at club cricket, he said with a smile on his face ‘I’ll be doing that anyway’, which I think says a lot about him.”

It really does and it really does suggest this is not the end of Steven Peter Devereux Smith.

Bancroft too has displayed immense character as his dream of cementing his spot in the Aussie cricket team has turned to ash since that fateful lunch break at the Newlands Cricket Ground during the Third Test against South Africa.

Aussie cricket legend Adam Gilchrist revealed to SEN Afternoons that Bancroft too has already quietly gone about rebuilding his career. Gilchrist is convinced.

“I just stepped out of the gym down the road where I go (in Perth), a tiny little local gym with a bloke I’ve been training with for 20 years,” Gilchrist explained.

“That’s where Cameron Bancroft trains when he wants to do extra stuff.

“I’ve seen him in there plenty of times, and talking to our trainer, he said he has texted him and said he is really keen to get back in there and work hard.

“He already has the right approach.

“He isn’t going to blame anyone else. He will take it on, look it in the eyeballs and then work out a way he can earn back the trust.”

It’s compelling evidence his career also is far from over.

Then there is David Warner.

The former Aussie vice captain has reportedly responded very differently to the ball tampering scandal that’s ripped the Aussie Test team apart.

David Warner will be spending plenty of time in the nets over the next 12 months.

Warner was famously spotted in the Aussie team’s hotel bar with friends from outside the Aussie test cricket team circle when reports first emerged claiming he was the instigator of the plot to rough up the Kookaburra with concealed sandpaper.

He reportedly left the team’s WhatsApp group message thread and was spotted sitting on his own, distanced from teammates, on their flight to Johannesburg after reportedly giving testimony that implicated other Aussie cricket stars in the ball-tampering plot.

While Smith has already set his mind on community cricket, and Bancroft his Perth gym, Warner is reportedly considering appealing the sanctions handed down by Cricket Australia.

“This could get ugly in terms of legal process, litigation, and appeal,” Veteran Aussie cricket commentator Jim Maxwell told ABC Radio.

The enigmatic opener released a statement on Thursday addressing the scandal and admitted he’ll be taking a step back from it all.

pic.twitter.com/BaB8vsSvif

— David Warner (@davidwarner31) March 29, 2018

Warner has always been a hard worker and very easily has it within him to rebound and return to the Aussie cricket team — to even be embraced and loved once more by his millions of supporters all over the world.

Unlike Smith and Bancroft, however, there is no evidence yet to suggest that it’s likely to happen.

All three cricketers will have to explain all of this themselves when they land back in Australia on Thursday night.

For Bancroft and Smith at least, their actions in the last few days have already spoken louder than anything they will say when they sit down to face the Australian press.