Convicted players sent home, Lehmann found not guilty
The ball-tampering saga has finally resulted in Paine officially becoming the new Australian captain. Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft will be sent back to Australia for being involved in the scandal. They will be replaced by Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell, and Joe Burns.
On the other hand, Darren Lehmann will remain in his position as it appears that he had knowledge of the plan.
It all started when Bancroft was shown using a yellow object on the ball shortly before tea on day-3 of Australia's third Test against South Africa in the ongoing series. When asked about that object by the umpires, he produced a black cover of his sunglasses from his pocket. The opening batsman later admitted that he became nervous after being shown on the screen and slid the tape into his trousers.
The umpires inspected the ball at that time and elected not to replace it nor award a five-run penalty as they could not see any marks on the ball that suggested its condition had been changed.
After the on-field drama, both Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith admitted to ball-tampering in a public confession after the 3rd day of the Test at Cape Town. Aussie skipper Steve Smith also voiced his guilt and revealed that the “leadership group” knew about the incident even though the coaches were not involved. Later, Australia vice-captain David Warner was found to be a part of that group.
Both Smith and Warner subsequently stepped down as captain and vice-captain respectively for the remainder of the Test. Australia then played under Tim Paine’s stewardship and lost the match by 322 runs.
For committing a level 2 offense by breaching the ICC Code of Conduct for Player and Player Support Personnel, Smith was fined 100 percent of his match fee and earned four demerit points, which equates to a one-Test suspension. Bancroft was also fined 75 percent of his match fee and was given three demerit points.
Cricket Australia (CA) head of integrity Iain Roy had been tasked with carrying out an investigation and conducted interviews at the team hotel. Selected players and support staff of Australian cricket team were interviewed on Monday in Cape Town as Cricket Australia's internal investigation into the issue kicked off.
Cricket Australia [CA] chief executive James Sutherland confirmed that the investigation will be complete by tomorrow and the convicted players are removed from the squad. It will be another 24 hours until the sanctions are announced and Sutherland has also indicated that CA would come down hard.
"The preliminary findings have confirmed that prior knowledge of the incident in Cape Town was confined to only the three players reported," Sutherland said.
“Steve Smith, David Warner & Cameron Bancroft can expect very heavy sanctions. The investigation will be completed by tomorrow morning and sanctions can be announced in next 24 hours. For now, 3 guilty players are removed from the squad and Glen Maxwell, Joe Burns & Matt Renshaw will fly to SA in next 24 hours,” he added.
