When Cricket Australia handed down the penalties for its ball-tampering trio, the rationale became clear.

In the days leading up, plenty of people had been saying the prospect of a year-long ban for Steve Smith and David Warner was far too harsh. After all, under the ICC Code of Conduct, other ball tamperers rarely even miss a match.

But CA didn't charge its players for tampering. It charged them under Section 2.3.5 of its own Code of Conduct, covering "unbecoming" behaviour "contrary to the spirit of the game", that could harm cricket or bring it into disrepute.

Sorry, this video has expired Steve Smith leaves South Africa after copping 12-month ban

While there was no full description of what happened during the Cape Town Test, the charge sheet was specific enough to work it out. It showed that hexing the ball wasn't the worst offence, rather the cover-up afterwards.

On the third night of that match, after television had picked up Cameron Bancroft's less-than-subtle renovation work and his even-more-obvious interior decoration, he came to a press conference with his captain, Smith.

They sat and faced us looking grave and anxious and strained. They shifted in their chairs and averted their eyes. They said how sorry they were, how embarrassed, how determined to overcome this error and better themselves.

And they were lying.

Even in that moment of commitment to a more honourable future, they were following a calculated plan to whittle down the consequences.

Bancroft and Smith lied about using sticky tape and dirt on the ball, in an attempt to make their effort look hasty and impulsive. They cited a "leadership group" to avoid implicating Warner, and they dated the idea to that day's lunch break to avert the impression of longer-term premeditation.

They told us those lies knowing we would report them to Australia's cricketing public, thus lying to millions of people who the team represents.

Cameron Bancroft makes his way home amid heavy security. ( AP: Themba Hadebe )

Impossible to know whether they acted alone

The umpires and the match referee were told the same lies, and if it's true that those three players acted alone, then they lied to their teammates and their coaches as well.

Of course, when so much lying has been done, it's impossible to know whether they acted alone or not. Whichever version is true, it involves plenty of lies around it.

The lies only stopped when CA's investigation team arrived and started grilling. Even then, judging by the charge sheet, Warner continued with denial, at least until it became clear the other two had spilled the beans.

As we finally learned from CA, the tampering tool wasn't tape, but sandpaper. Warner had been the agitator and instigator. Smith hadn't wanted him blamed given he was already on the brink of a disciplinary ban.

Sorry, this video has expired 'As a team, we have let so many people down', says coach Darren Lehmann

Most ludicrously, Warner had not only hatched the plan, but had talked the junior player Bancroft into carrying it out, given him instructions on how to sand a ball, and given him an honest-to-god demonstration of the technique.

Just a nice little workshop between friends. All of this apparently happening in the few spare minutes of a lunch break, between the sandwiches and the Gatorade.

Meanwhile, at the lunch break in question, the ball was 22 overs old, nowhere near the usual age for reverse swing. Yet apparently senior players were so spooked by its absence they decided to cheat then and there.

Surely, Warner at least had been thinking of this method some time in advance, and Bancroft's work on the ball was preparing it for later reverse swing, not responding to a current absence.

Scrutiny on Warner

Plenty of people around the scene in South Africa contend Warner had sandpaper involved at least one Test earlier. That suggestion started being made during the Port Elizabeth Test, and the resulting scrutiny on Warner is one possible reason why he recruited Bancroft.

Smith's role at this point is interesting. On the charge sheet, he's pegged with "knowledge of a potential plan" to tamper, and "failure to take steps" to head it off.

Warner is charged with "development of a plan", but Smith is not. Bancroft is charged with "carrying out instructions" regarding that plan.

So it seems Smith might have heard discussion about it, or seen warning signs, but hadn't realised it was going ahead. Or hadn't wanted to know. Or that he realised something was up while out on the field, but didn't put a stop to it.

Space to play or pause, M to mute, left and right arrows to seek, up and down arrows for volume. Watch Duration: 34 seconds 34 s Cameron Bancroft is seen holding a yellow object.

These scenarios might have made him worthy of some leeway when the reckoning arrived. But when the plan failed, he knew enough already to know exactly what was happening, so he stepped in to cover it up.

To hide the evidence, deny all knowledge and start a trail of dishonesty that would only come to an end days later.

The issue isn't just that Australian cricketers hatched a plan to cheat. It's that they returned to the dressing room, chastened at being caught, then hashed out another plan to cheat the consequences.

Now we can't trust the national team, regard everyone's statements with suspicion and have no idea if the worst interpretations are true.

If there was sympathy before, it has evaporated. A year's ban doesn't get much fairer than this.