Cricket Australia boss moves to quell rift over Emily Smith

Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings will meet with the players’ association as a rift over the Emily Smith saga threatens to open.

Banned Hurricanes keeper Emily Smith has found herself at the centre of a dispute

Cricket Australia chairman Earl Eddings has agreed to meet with Australian Cricketers’ Association members Alyssa Healy, Kristen Beams and Shane Watson as outrage over the conviction of T20 player Emily Smith for breaching the anti-corruption code threatens the fragile relationship between the two parties.

The Smith conviction has seen the two sides of the game revert to entrenched positions they had resolved to move on from after the ugliness of the pay negotiations nearly led to a players’ strike.

Players and administrators are in furious disagreement over the facts and fairness of the Smith case and even though no date has been set for the meeting there are hopes an airing of the discontentment can ease tensions.

At the moment there is little common ground on how the case proceeds or the way it has been handled since.

Emily Smith posted team details on her private Instagram account as a joke

The Australian understands that Smith self-reported her offence after being advised she had made a mistake and that other key details are in dispute, including her ability to delete the message once she realised her breach.

The Hobart Hurricanes player was charged for revealing the batting order of the side as a joke on a private Instagram account in a game that was abandoned without a ball being bowled.

Eddings had originally rejected pleas to meet with the newly appointed ACA president, Watson, saying “our hands are tied, we can’t change the decision under the code of conduct”. The chairman said the matter could be taken up in the ordinary course of meetings with the ACA that had been agreed on as part of the cultural review recommendations.

Smith, 23, accepted a 12-month ban, with nine months of it suspended.

Cricket Australia expected the player to appeal the decision, but Smith was overwhelmed by the prospect and accepted the sanction. Other more powerful women in the game reacted with outrage at what they saw as a heavy-handed tactic, claiming the 24-year-old was so intimidated she just wanted the whole matter to go away. Some in the game have backed the administrators, with veteran Alex Blackwell saying it was “the player’s responsibility” to adhere to the guidelines. Others say the system that was introduced for male players long used to the professionalism of the game and point out that the vast majority of minor corruption breaches have been from women players who have made the transition from amateur to professionalism.

CA is upset that the ACA has hit back, claiming it initially agreed that the matter was settled and would go no further after Smith accepted the sanction.

The board met on the Friday and it was expected that new director, Mel Jones, would be one who, as a former player and one well connected within the game, would raise the issue in her first meeting.

The ACA board had an extraordinary board meeting two weeks ago to collect information on the controversy and address any errors it has made.

It is unlikely a player will ever go into a meeting without a lawyer in future.

CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said in radio interviews he sympathised with Smith, but said she had plenty of time to correct her error.

“Within minutes of that post being made other female players were responding to it saying, ‘You can’t post that, people could bet on what you’ve just put up’,” Roberts told SEN.

“Unfortunately it was up for an hour and a half and other players had identified after a few minutes ‘take it down, take it down’ and unfortunately, for whatever reason, it remained up for some time.”

When informed later by the team manager that she had done the wrong thing, Smith could not remove the post as by that time the phones had been collected as they are at all televised games and given to the ACSU officer. The player then reported her mistake to the officer.

The Hurricanes were fined $10,000 as management had not collected the phones earlier, but the ACSU officer appears to have suffered no consequences for failing to secure them before the players enter the dressing room.

It is understood the Hurricanes team manger was originally relaxed about the phone’s presence as it was apparent the game would never proceed.

CA head of integrity and security Sean Carroll said the organisation agreed that Smith had no intent to breach the code.

“We have been working with Emily throughout the process. Unfortunately, in this instance, Emily’s actions breached the anti-corruption code.”