Australia captain Steve Smith has been handed a one-Test suspension and fined 100 per cent of his match fee by the International Cricket Council over the ball-tampering bombshell.
Smith has accepted the charge and will miss the fourth Test against South Africa. Cameron Bancroft is free to play the series finale, having been docked 75 per cent of his match fee for ball tampering.
Smith confessed overnight that he authorised premeditated cheating on day three of the third Test, wanting to use sticky tape in an illegal attempt to change the condition of the ball.
Australia captain Steve Smith (pictured right) has been handed a one-Test suspension and fined 100 per cent of his match fee by the International Cricket Council over the ball-tampering bombshell
Bancroft used the tape while working on the ball in the post-lunch session then attempted to hide it from umpires.
Further sanctions are expected to come from Cricket Australia (CA), who are under pressure to strip Smith of the captaincy.
Since taking over as Australian test captain in 2015 Steve Smith has made headlines multiple times for the wrong reasons.
It started during a test series against New Zealand in 2016 when Smith went on a profanity laden rant directed at umpires when a review decision went against the Australian team.
As reported by ABC News at the time, Smith was fined 30% of his match fee for dissent after the confrontation with umpires in Christchurch.
Since taking over as Australian cricket captain in 2015 Steve Smith has been involved in a handful of incidents that made headlines prior to the recent ball tampering scandal
His rant wasn’t picked up by the on field microphones but Smith defended his actions post game.
‘I don’t think we’re not nice guys. We play a good, hard, aggressive brand of cricket,’ he said.
‘For us it’s about knowing where that line is and myself and Josh Hazlewood have crossed that line in this Test match and that’s not what we’re about.’
In 2017 during a test series in India, Smith looked for assistance from the dressing rooms before deciding whether to review the decision.
There are television monitors in the dressing room and those watching may have had a better idea of whether a review would be needed, something that is not allowed.
Smith described the incident as a ‘brain fade’.
Umpires pulled Smith up on it and Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli said he believed Smith had ‘crossed the line’ The Guardian reported.
Indian cricket captain Virat Kohli said he believed Smith had ‘crossed the line’ during the last test series in India when he looked to be seeking assistance from the dressing room on a review
‘Honestly, if someone makes a mistake while batting, for me, personally, that’s a brain fade,’ Kohli said at the time.
‘But if something is going on for three days, then that’s not a brain fade, as simple as that.’
Kohli stopped short of calling it cheating.
After that incident The Board of Control for Cricket in India asked the International Cricket Council to look into the matter.
Another incident happened during the Ashes series over the summer when England strike bowler James Anderson accused the Australian team of being bullies.
Anderson said that Smith was ‘one of the biggest sledgers in the game,’ Cricket.com.au reported.
English strike bowler James Anderson (pictured right) said that Smith was ‘one of the biggest sledgers in the game,’
The comments came after an incident in which the Australian team was sledging English player Jonny Bairtsow about headbutting Australian player Cameron Bancroft.
‘Australia were taking the mickey out of England after the first Test and it was infuriating to listen to and watch,’ Anderson said.
In response Smith said it was ‘interesting coming from Jimmy calling us bullies and big sledgers,’ saying he felt Anderson was one of the biggest sledgers in the game.
Recently Smith seemed to question the decision making of the ICC after the ban on South African bowler Kagiso Rabada (pictured centre) for bumping the Australian captain was lifted on appeal
And most recently Smith courted controversy by questioning the appeal of a ban handed down by the ICC to South African bowler Kagiso Rabada for bumping the Australian captain was lifted on appeal.
He deemed the decision ‘interesting’ and implied he was not made a part of the appeal process despite being involved in the incident The Times of India reported.
Smith and his vice captain David Warner today stood down as captain and vice captain for the remainder of the third test match against South Africa.
Steve Smith (pictured left) and his vice captain David Warner (pictured right) today stood down as captain and vice captain for the remainder of the third test match against South Africa