Australia vs. South Africa: Smith and Warner stood down from captaincy and vice-captaincy for remainder of third Test.

Steve Smith and David Warner have been stood down from their leadership roles for the remainder of the third Test.

Australian captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner have been forced to stand down from their leadership positions over the ball tampering scandal in South Africa.

Smith and Warner have tonight taken the field in the Third Test, but with wicketkeeper Tim Paine as captain.

Cricket Australia has bowed to the public pressure to take firm action on the scandal.

CA chairman David Peever said Paine would captain the side tonight and on day five.

“The Board ... has endorsed Tim Paine to step in as acting captain for the remainder of this Test,” he said in a statement.

“Both Steve and David will take to the field today under Tim’s captaincy.

Smith and Warner’s long-term tenure hinges on a CA investigation into the ball tampering incident.

“Following discussions with Steve Smith and David Warner they have agreed to stand down as captain and vice-captain respectively for the remainder of this Test match,” CA chief executive James Sutherland said in the statement.

“This Test match needs to proceed, and in the interim we will continue to investigate this matter with the urgency that it demands.

“As I said earlier today, Cricket Australia and Australian cricket fans expect certain standards of conduct from cricketers representing our country, and on this occasion these standards have not been met.

“All Australians, like us, want answers and we will keep you updated on our findings, as a matter of priority.”

CA chairman David Peever said Paine would captain the side tonight and on day five.

“The Board ... has endorsed Tim Paine to step in as acting captain for the remainder of this Test.

“Both Steve and David will take to the field today under Tim’s captaincy.

Cricket Australia drop the early boom on Steve Smith and David Warner.

PM calls for investigation

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has sought assurances from Cricket Australia that the ball-tampering scandal involving Australia’s Test team will be fully investigated.

Mr Turnbull said he had spoken with CA chairman David Peever to express his “shock and disappointment” at the actions of Australia’s cricketers, several of whom he said he knew personally.

“It seems quite out of character,” Mr Turnbull told reporters in Victoria.

“We all woke up this morning shocked and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa.

“It seemed completely beyond the belief, that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating. After all, our cricketers are role models. And cricket is synonymous with fair play. How can our team be involved in cheating like this? It beggars belief.”

“(David Peever) has said to me that Cricket Australia will be responding decisively, as they should.

The Prime Minister would not be drawn on the question of whether skipper Steve Smith should be stripped of the captaincy, saying that was a matter for cricket administrators.

“I have to say that the whole nation who holds those that wear the baggy green up on a pedestal — about as high as you can get in Australia, certainly higher than any politician — this is a shocking disappointment. It’s wrong. And I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon.”

Bill Shorten also expressed his shock over the revelations. “Like all Australians, I can’t quite believe what we saw last night,” the Opposition Leader tweeted. “For the sake of all cricket lovers I hope Cricket Australia make it clear that this behaviour is unacceptable.”

CA has refused to sack Smith and will only act after conducting a full investigation. Chief executive James Sutherland has dispatched integrity manager Iain Roy and high performance manager Pat Howard to Cape Town to investigate the fiasco.

.@TurnbullMalcolm: says the whole nation thinks the ball tampering scandal is a 'shocking disappointment.'

MORE: https://t.co/agh5YlPmxd pic.twitter.com/FnffF2jIN0

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) March 25, 2018

It comes after Australian cricketers confessed to cheating in a plot hatched by Smith and senior players as they saw the third test against South Africa slipping away.

Overnight, Smith said he would not stand down as Australian captain, but admitted he and the Test team’s leadership group were responsible for the ball-tampering incident, in which Cameron Bancroft used yellow adhesive tape to pick up “granules” beside the pitch and rub it on the ball to rough it up in an attempt to get it to reverse swing.

Despite calls for Smith to stand down, Sutherland said investigators would travel to South Africa to “understand the facts” before any action is taken.

“I understand that that is not necessarily the fullness of response that everyone is looking for right now. But you will appreciate that there’s an element of process that needs to be undertaken here,” Sutherland told reporters in Melbourne.

Given the fourth Test starts on Friday, and the logistics of sending replacement players to South Africa, the lack of any immediate action on Smith’s tenure means he and the “leadership group” appear likely to play in Johannesburg.

Roy and Howard will arrive tomorrow, conduct their investigation and then report back to the board.

“This is a very sad day for Australian cricket,” Sutherland said outside CA’s Jolimont headquarters.

“Australian cricket fans want to be proud of their cricket team.

“And I think that this morning they have every reason to wake up and not be proud of the Australian cricket team.

“I’m not happy about this at all. I feel like Australian cricket fans feel right now.”

Sutherland said it would rash to mete out punishments without all the facts.

“We have a responsibility to take this further.

“We will over the next couple of days get a deep understanding of what happened and why.

“You will appreciate there’s an element of process that needs to be followed here.

“It will be dealt with properly. We will work very hard over the next couple of days to get to the bottom of it.”

Sutherland said he had not spoken to Smith but stressed repeatedly he was unhappy about the incident. It was an admission that itself has raised eyebrows, with commentators wondering why the pair had not been in touch given the gravity of Smith’s confession overnight.

“I have very strong and clear views about the responsibility of the Australian cricket team to play the game in the right spirit,” he added.

“And I don’t think anyone will be under any illusions as to what I think about this.”

Players’ body the Australian Cricketers Association backed the investigation and said “it seems serious errors of judgement have been committed”.

Sutherland says they need to “understand the facts” but hasn’t even spoken to the captain and the team has already accepted the charge, extraordinary

— Ben Murphy (@BenBMurph) March 25, 2018

And it is absolutely inexplicable James Sutherland has not spoken to Smith. Wake. Him. Up. #cricketcrisis

— Michael Rowland (@mjrowland68) March 25, 2018

Sutherland hasn’t spoken to Smith yet? Absolutely extraordinary

— Darren Parkin (@Darren_Parkin) March 25, 2018

“It is right for match officials and Cricket Australia to investigate the full extent of what has transpired. Cricket is a sport synonymous with the highest standards of behaviour,” it said. “Standards which must be observed at all times. And standards upheld and nurtured by generations of players.”

Smith said overnight the plan for Bancroft to tamper with the ball was hatched by the team’s “leadership group”.

A CA spokesman said today he didn’t know who was in the group, but it has been reported that it comprises Smith, vice-captain David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Mitchell Starc and Josh Hazlewood.

If all five are suspended for the fourth Test then replacement players would have a mad scramble to get to Johannesburg in time for Friday’s final match of the series.

Bancroft has been charged by the match referee, but there is no indication of charges against Smith for conspiring with the fielder.

Smith said he was “sorry” and “embarrassed” but said after the day’s play: “I won’t be considering stepping down.

“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 hope 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.

Laws of cricket: “The major responsibility for fair play rests with the captains...” Smith has admitted not merely cheating, but planning to cheat. Everything else in that ill-tempered series is irrelevant to this. By his own actions, Smith’s position as captain is untenable.

— Jonathan Agnew (@Aggerscricket) March 24, 2018

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.

Footage shows Cameron Bancroft using a piece of sticking plaster to tamper with the ball.

Former Test captain Michael Clarke says he can’t believe team leaders authorised the ball-tampering and got a “young kid” to do it.

“It is premeditated cheating. It is blatant cheating. It is disgraceful and it is not accepted by anyone,” Clarke said.

“Particularly in Australia. We’ve got the best bowling attack in the world. We don’t need to cheat to beat anybody”.

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.

Chairman of Cricket Australia, David Peever, was at the ground and had been involved in representations to Cricket South Africa about the behaviour of its fans on the previous days. Mr Sutherland put out a press release on the morning of play condemning the Cape Town crowd’s 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.

Cameron Bancroft, centre, talks to the umpire during the Test at Newlands Stadium, Cape Town. Pic: AP

“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.”

WHAT THE ........ HAVE I JUST WOKEN UP TO. Please tell me this is a bad dream.

— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) March 24, 2018

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.”

Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith face questioning over the ball-tampering incident. Pic: Getty Images

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.”

Reaction to the Australians’ admissions was damning.

“WHAT THE ........ HAVE I JUST WOKEN UP TO. Please tell me this is a bad dream,” tweeted Clarke, who preceded Smith as Australia captain.

Former Australia legspinner Shane Warne said: “I don’t care who you are, you can’t tamper with the ball. I know the Australian sides I played in never did anything like that.”

Former England captain Nasser Hussain did not mince his words, telling Sky Sports News: “This was a premeditated attempt by the Australian team to cheat.”

Australian great Shane Warne said whoever told Bancroft to cheat had to be identified.

“I feel a bit for Cameron Bancroft because I don’t think he’s taken it upon himself to do something and put it in his pocket,” said former leg-spinner Warne, who took 708 Test wickets.

Former England skipper Michael Vaughan said all of the Australian team and coaches would forever be remembered as cheats.

Steve Smith,his Team & ALL the management will have to accept that whatever happens in their careers they will all be known for trying to CHEAT the game ... #SAvAUS

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 24, 2018

Injured Proteas paceman Dale Steyn and recently-retired batsman Kevin Pietersen questioned whether coach Darren Lehmann was aware of Australia’s plan, something Smith denied while speaking to reporters.

“This will be Darren Lehmann’s greatest test as a coach, cos (sic) I will struggle to believe that this was all Bancroft’s idea,” Pietersen posted on Twitter.

Steyn replied that “nothing in professional sport is done without the consent of your captain and coach”.

Additional reporting: Ben Packham