Jul 5th, 2018

Jul 5th, 2018

Australian great Dean Jones has joined the growing chorus of current and ex-players calling for Steve Smith and David Warner to play domestic cricket next summer.

The pair were suspended for 12 months following the ball-tampering scandal following the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town in March, while opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months.

Bancroft will be eligible to return after Christmas, but Smith and Warner will not be able to play until the Sheffield Shield final, should New South Wales qualify.

Wide World of Sports has revealed that moves are afoot behind the scenes to water down the suspensions, which could allow Smith and Warner to play domestic cricket at some point during the summer ahead of the 2019 World Cup. Cricket Australia (CA) describes this as “speculative”.

Jones says CA went too far by including domestic cricket in the bans.

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“There’s absolutely no good reason for Cricket Australia to prevent them playing domestically,” Jones told Wide World of Sports.

“The Sheffield Shield competition needs all the help it can get. The BBL does as well.

“I’m over here in Canada for the Global T20 at the moment and I’ve seen what a boost it’s been to have Smith and Warner here.

“It would be madness to leave them sitting on the sidelines all summer. Imagine the positive impact their presence would have on all the young kids watching.”

Jones believes allowing the pair to play domestic cricket would be beneficial to Australian cricket in the long term.

“When I played, runs against the likes of Craig McDermott, Bruce Reid, Carl Rackemann and Terry Alderman were looked at favourably.

“Wouldn’t it be great to test our up-and-coming players against the best in the world, and for our young batsmen to see how the number one batsman in the world goes about things?”

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Jones has long been on the record playing down the impact of ball-tampering. In a 1994 newspaper column, he wrote: “I don’t see much wrong with ball tampering. If it were legal it wouldn’t worry me. And that is a batsman speaking.

“It has been going on for ages. Hair oil was a popular one in the ‘40’s and ‘50’s. People have used suncream, but that doesn’t help the bowlers much. Most bowlers have lifted the seam at some stage in their careers. Big deal.”

Former New South Wales captain Moises Henriques is another to call for the bans to be softened.

“I personally feel those three guys got hung out to dry a little bit to be honest,” Henriques told The Daily Telegraph.

Despite being forever banned from holding a leadership position within Australian cricket, Warner has now been appointed captain of the Winnipeg Hawks in the Global T20 Canada competition, following the departure of designated skipper Dwayne Bravo.

Warner captained Sunrisers Hyderabad to the 2016 IPL title.