Former Australia star and current selector of the national team, Mark Waugh, has revealed that the careers of the disgraced trio of Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft are not going be halted forever due to the sandpaper saga.

Mark Waugh stated that his relationship with the trio is still good and labeled them as good players. He also added that what they did was a mistake and every human is prone to making errors like they did.

"My personal contact with these guys is that they're all good people and very fine players. They've made a mistake, everyone makes mistakes. Not one person that I've ever met hasn't made a mistake. It's so unfortunate they've made this mistake and they're going to pay such a heavy penalty," Waugh told Sky Sports Radio.

Waugh was of the opinion that they have to be forgiven as he hopes that they will get back stronger since they are some of the finest players in the game with a lot of importance to the Australian setup.

"But we should all look at the facts. You've got to let them back into the fold, you've got to forgive them and hope they get back to where they were," he added.

"We've still got a lot of fine players in Australia but to lose these three guys, particularly Smith and Warner, it's going to leave a huge hole in your squad," he said.

He then singled out Cameron Bancroft and stated that his gap will be hard to fill up. He was, however, hopeful that the others would up their game in this period and help Aussies in the international circuit.

"Cameron Bancroft is a good young man on his way up, it's going to leave a spot there too which is going to be hard to fill.

"You'd be naive to think it will be easy, it's going to be tough. There are going to be tough times ahead.

"But at the same time, it gives other guys the chance to step up. India is going to be very tough in Australia and of course there's a World Cup next year.

"It's going to be tough but before too long we'll be back in the winners' circle."

Mark Waugh’s words should bring relief to the hearts of the trio, especially David Warner, who is touted to never represent Australia again. There is a good chance that they could contest the bans and attempt to decrease their ban period to prepare themselves for the World Cup next year.