Sanitarium, the maker of Weet-Bix and a sponsor of Steve Smith and the Big Bash League, said it did not condone cheating in sport. “Cricket Australia updated us on this issue as the story broke yesterday and we’re continuing to follow it closely. It’s a shameful moment for Australian sport,” a spokeswoman for Sanitarium said. “Regarding our sponsorship relationship with Steve Smith, we will assess our response once the management team of Cricket Australia has finalised its investigations. “Like the rest of Australia, we’re incredibly disappointed. The actions taken by the team in South Africa are not aligned with our own – Sanitarium does not condone cheating in sport,” she said. Loading

“We expect Cricket Australia to continue to keep us updated over the coming days and weeks. At this stage, we have no further comment,” she said. Sponsors also welcomed moves by Cricket Australia to immediately investigate the incident, in which captain Steve Smith admitted to hatching a plan to tamper with the ball during the Test match in Cape Town. A spokesman for Lion, Cricket Australia’s “official beer partner”, said: “Like the rest of Australia, we’re deeply disappointed. This is not what you’d expect from anyone in sport at any level.” Hamish Douglass, chief executive of Magellan Financial Group, which sponsored the 2017-18 Ashes series, said the company was “deeply shocked and concerned by the news of cheating by the Australian Men’s Cricket team. Magellan finds cheating abhorrent". Mr Douglass also said Magellan was in discussions with Cricket Australia, and expected “a robust and appropriate response from Cricket Australia and will determine our position once we’ve assessed it”.

A spokesperson for KFC said events in South Africa were very disappointing for "all Australian cricket fans" and for the game itself. "We believe it is appropriate for Cricket Australia to fully investigate the events surrounding the incident and to take action that protects the long-term reputation of the sport,” the KFC spokesperson said. In a statement, Accenture, which has been a sponsor of Cricket Australia for the past four years, said: “We are deeply disappointed with the actions of some of the players in the Australian Cricket team. Accenture’s core value of integrity and our strong culture of ethics and compliance requires us to be fierce but fair competitors. Our expectation is that our partners will operate in the same manner and we expect Cricket Australia to take whatever action is necessary to restore integrity to the game.” CBA - a long-term sponsor of cricket and the nation's biggest bank - issued a short statement late on Sunday, saying “We are disappointed about the events that have emerged from the Third Test in South Africa and have asked for a full explanation from Cricket Australia following the conclusion of its investigation into this affair.” CBA sponsors the Australian women’s cricket team, indigenous cricket, cricketers with disabilities and grassroots cricket, but it seems unlikely that these arrangements will be put at risk by the current crisis in South Africa. CBA does not sponsor the Australian men’s cricket team. A spokesperson for Qantas, a major sponsor, said: “This is deeply disappointing and certainly not what anyone expects from our national cricket team. We are in discussions with Cricket Australia as this issue unfolds.”