Axe looms for Darren Lehmann over ball tampering

Cricket Australia has dismissed as speculation reports that Darren Lehmann will resign as head coach within 24 hours.

Australian Head Coach Darren Lehmann. Picture: Getty Images.

Cricket Australia has dismissed as speculation reports that Darren Lehmann will resign as head coach within 24 hours. According to The Telegraph in London, Lehmann is expected to quit the team with immediate effect.

Lehmann had already announced his intent to step down as head coach following the 2019 World Cup in the UK and next year’s Ashes series in England. Former Australian opener Justin Langer is the frontrunner to replace Lehmann.

The Telegraph reports that Lehmann told Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland of his decision yesterday. Sutherland is currently enroute to South Africa to deal with the escalating crisis.

While Cricket Australia did not deny the report, it said it was just speculation at this stage.

CA’s integrity chief Iain Roy and team performance manager Pat Howard have already arrived in South Africa and started their formal review of skipper Steve Smith’s cheating confession that has rocked world cricket.

Mr Sutherland, who is under immense pressure to strip Smith of the captaincy, will meet with Mr Roy and Mr Howard later today before discussing likely punishments with CA’s board.

CA chairman David Peever says an announcement regarding the findings of the inquiry will be made on Wednesday morning (AEDT).

“The Cricket Australia Board has been fully updated on the issue and supports James travelling to South Africa to manage the response to the investigation currently underway,’’ said Peever

“We expect to be able to fully update the Australian public on the findings on Wednesday morning (Tuesday evening in Johannesburg). We understand that everyone wants answers, but we must follow our due diligence before any further decisions are made.’’

Opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught using tape to interfere with the ball during the third Test at Newlands before Smith admitted the team’s leadership group had agreed to the idea at an explosive press conference. Smith has since been slapped with a one-Test ban by the International Cricket Council and will miss the spiteful four-Test series finale that starts in Johannesburg on Friday, with Australia 2-1 down.

Former Australia coach John Buchanan says it’s uncommon for a coach not to know what plans his players take onto the field.

“It is unusual as the teams are walking out that the coach is unaware of what’s about to happen,” Buchanan told BBC Radio 5 Live. “Generally it will be the coach and captain, in the last couple of minutes before they go to the field, who will be saying, ‘these are the sort of things we want to do and put in place when we get out on the field’.”

Amid suggestions that Smith and Warner could be sent home in disgrace before the fourth Test begins, further ball-tampering claims were aired by English fast bowler Stuart Broad. Speculation also mounted that Smith and Warner faced 12-month bans, putting their participation in next year’s World Cup in doubt, and risking their $2.4 million Indian Premier League contracts.

Broad yesterday questioned Australia’s tactics during the recent Ashes series. “I saw Steve Smith say it was the first time they have tried it (using tape to tamper with the ball),” he said. “To me, it’s surprising: why they would change a method that’s been working? If you look at the Ashes series we’ve just played, they reverse-swung the ball in nearly all of those Test matches, sometimes in conditions where you wouldn’t expect the ball to reverse.”

Steve Smith at the Southern Sun The Cullinan hotel in Cape Town, yesterday. Picture: Getty Images.

TV bulletins last night carried footage of Australian opener Cameron Bancroft putting what appeared to be sugar into his pocket before taking the field in the fifth Test at the SCG in January. Sugar can be used to rough up one side of the ball, to enhance swing through the air, or to make the ball sticky for a similar effect.

When the footage first came to light in January, Cricket Australia said the sugar bowl contained gum. The team doctor advised the players to remove the gum using a teaspoon to avoid germs being spread, the administrators said.

Sutherland will arrive in South Africa today, amid forecasts the ball-tampering scandal could strip $200 million from Cricket Australia’s $1 billion target for its media rights.

There is speculation Sutherland’s arrival indicates immediate action will be taken. It was the CA chief executive and general manager of team performance Howard who sacked former coach Micky Arthur after an incident involving Warner in 2013.

In an email last night addressed to “our ­Australian Cricket Fans”, Mr ­Sutherland said he would meet CA’s head of integrity “to understand the findings of the investigation to that point, and to consider the outcomes”. CA had indicated early in the tour it was unhappy with a team culture that promoted aggressive, sometimes ugly cricket on the field. Lehmann is believed to be a chief instigator of this approach.

Justin Langer. Picture: Getty Images.

Buchanan said he suspected the team culture “wasn’t that strong”. “The team would have been fractured and fragmented by the Warner footage from that first Test (aggressively confronting South African players),” Buchanan said.

The costs to the players and the game from the scandal are expected to be massive with long bans to be meted out and the suggestion Warner and Smith could lose multi-million-dollar IPL contracts. Smith stood down as captain of the Rajasthan Royals yesterday and Warner could lose the Sunrisers Hyderabad leadership.

They are paid about $2.4m by the Indian sides for their participation in the tournament, which begins next month.

Smith has stood down from the Australian captaincy and has been suspended from the fourth Test. Warner, his vice-captain, followed suit and is likely to miss the match because of his alleged involvement in hatching the plan during the lunch break with the former skipper.

Smith last night also stood down from his IPL captaincy.

The announcement of pre-emptive action against players and staff ahead of more formal charges could happen as early as today. CA’s chief legal counsel, Iain Roy, and Howard were dispatched by Mr Sutherland as the scale of the situation became apparent. They were expected to start interviewing players, coaches and other members of the team’s support staff overnight.

CA chairman Mr Peever left South Africa on Saturday, oblivious to the drama unfolding on the field. He was greeted by a call from Malcolm Turnbull on his arrival back in Australia. The former mining chief executive vowed to keep the disappointed public abreast of events.

“The Cricket Australia board has been fully updated on the issue and supports James travelling to South Africa to manage the response to the investigation currently under way,” Mr Peever said. “We expect to be able to fully update the Australian public on the findings on Wednesday morning. We understand that everyone wants answers, but we must follow our due diligence.”

Cameron Bancroft during the Ashes series.

While the ICC has acted against Smith and Bancroft, handing out fines, CA is expected to take the matter more seriously and has the capability under its own code of conduct. A charge of conduct contrary to the spirit of the game includes a possible life ban from the sport, and considers factors including “the harm caused by the breach to the interests of cricket”.

Smith, who yesterday appeared shattered by the turn of events, met Australian Cricketers Association president Alistair Nicholson. The players’ association was also dealing with anger from most of its members about the behaviour of those ­involved in the ball-tampering incident.

The last day of the Cape Town Test played out in a sombre manner for the visitors. Smith, Warner and Bancroft were booed loudly by the crowd as the home side completed a victory to take a 2-1 lead in the series.

Some disappointed travelling fans in the Wave the Flag group had taken the Australian flags off their poles and waved sticks instead during the final day.

Tim Paine was appointed ­Australia’s acting captain before play, his elevation approved in an emergency Cricket Australia board meeting on Sunday ­afternoon. The wicketkeeper was already bracing himself for player axings in the next match.

“There’s ammunition enough but it’s a difficult situation that some guys are going to get an opportunity from, so it’s trying to grab hold of the one positive that may come of it is guys are going to get an opportunity to play for their country,” Paine said.

The wicketkeeper, who was set to retire from cricket before a shock call-up to the Ashes side, indicated that the players had to change their ways.

“Something we can try to control is how we are seen going forward by our Australian public and become the team that we want to become and they want us to be seen as,” Paine said.