Australia skipper Steven Smith fined, suspended for ball tampering

“We will continue to investigate this matter with the urgency that it demands”, he said.

South Africa’s players had been told to maintain their focus on winning the test amid separate investigations by the International Cricket Council and Cricket Australia into the ball tampering which was planned, carried out and then botched by senior Australian players and Bancroft.

Paine led Australia on Sunday with Smith and Warner stepping down from leadership duties.

Former India captain Bishan Singh Bedi termed the ball tampering scandal as one of modern day cricket’s great tragedies and held the players responsible for plunging the sport into crisis.

“It’s been incredibly emotional, I don’t think I’ve seen Australians so united on any front as they have been in their condemnation, their anger and their disappointment in these Australian cricketers”, she said.

“It’s wrong, and I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon”.

While refusing to talk about the Australian Prime Minister’s comments on the saga, Paine rued the fact that his side couldn’t compete throughout the day with the same intensity they showcased at the start. Shukla said they will wait and decide on Smith’s future in the IPL season basis the ICC decision. “I’m not sure what’s going to happen”, he said.

It was Morkel who completed the rout, finishing with career-best match figures of 9-110 as Hazlewood holed out to third man to conclude a desperate outing for the tourists, who must somehow bounce back from 2-1 down in the final Test at the Wanderers on Friday.

Bancroft later admitted he was nervous and panicked when he realised that cameras in the stadium had caught him in the act.

Holding said he was “shocked” that they stepped down during the Test.

“He’s trying to take responsibility, so there’s right in that.”

During Smith’s short stay at the wicket, two wickets fell off successive balls from left-arm spinner Keshav Maharaj, with Usman Khawaja caught at slip off a ball that went straight on and Shaun Marsh prodding one which turned and bounced out of the rough to short leg.

Many in the cricket world, including Kevin Pietersen, agreed with the sentiment and called for swift action against the players involved.

Having been unforgiving in past scandals and scathing in their criticism involving ball-tampering in Asia, particularly by Pakistani teams under Imran Khan, and having taken the moral high ground during the betting scandal, the Aussies must pay the price now. The on-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong then spoke to Bancroft and Smith, before they the third umpire Ian Gould and fourth umpire Allahudien Palekar, laid the ball-tampering charges.

Lehmann is nonetheless a lightning rod for criticism among an Australian public increasingly fed-up with the team’s behaviour.

Du Plessis was again found to be guilty of ball tampering only this time around as South African captain. “One is definitely much more serious than the other”.

– 2005 – Former England batsman Marcus Trescothick said in his autobiography that he used mint-induced saliva to keep the shine on the ball as his team recorded their first Ashes victory after 18 years.