Steve Smith has been has been handed a one-match ban, fined 100% of his match fee by the ICC and has stood down as Australia captain for the remainder of the third Test against South Africa after admitting his team deliberately tampered with the ball. The vice captain David Warner has also stood down while Cameron Bancroft has been fined 75% of his match fee and handed three demerit points.

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Smith accepted the ICC charge of serious conduct that is contrary to the spirit of the game and the ban. Bancroft pleaded guilty to the breaching level two of the ICC code of conduct.

The ICC’s chief executive, David Richardson, said: “The decision made by the leadership group of the Australian team to act in this way is clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, risks causing significant damage to the integrity of the match, the players and the sport itself and is therefore ‘serious’ in nature. As captain, Steve Smith must take full responsibility for the actions of his players and it is appropriate that he be suspended.

“The game needs to have a hard look at itself. In recent weeks we have seen incidents of ugly sledging, send-offs, dissent against umpires’ decisions, a walk-off, ball tampering and some ordinary off-field behaviour.”

Smith, Warner and Bancroft will continue to play in the rest of the third Test, but wicketkeeper Tim Paine will act as captain for the remaining two days of play.

Quick guide Other sporting controversies Show Hide Bloodgate There were only a few minutes left of the 2009 Heineken Cup quarter-final between Harlequins and Leinster and the English side were a point down. Luckily for them, they had one of the greatest players in their history in their squad. Unluckily for them, Nick Evans was sitting on the bench, having gone off injured earlier in the match. What followed was one of rugby union’s darker episodes. The Quins wing Tom Williams sought treatment for a cut lip, allowing for a change to be made. Except there was no cut. He had bitten into a fake blood capsule. The fallout claimed the job of the Harlequins director of rugby, Dean Richards, and led to a series of bans being imposed on other figures involved in the scandal. And Quins still lost the match. Deflategate The scandal that seemed to drag on and on. The New England Patriots were found to have been inflating balls to less than the minimum pressure required by the rules, the idea being that a slightly deflated ball is easier to handle. The scandal erupted after an Indianapolis Colts player intercepted a ball from the Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and handed it to a member of his team’s staff. A curious rule in American football allows teams to provide their own balls to use in their own plays, meaning opposing players rarely touch a ball provided by the opposition. Brady ended up being fined and banned for four matches in a bitter row with the NFL that lasted about 18 months and ended up in a US courtroom. Crashgate In the 2008 Singapore Grand Prix, the then Renault driver Nelson Piquet alleged that senior team staff asked him to crash in order to force the deployment of a safety car and help his teammate Fernando Alonso to gain track position.

Alonso had started the race 15th on the grid and the inevitable slowing of the competition – and the likelihood that other drivers would use the time to make a pit-stop – meant he could move up. Piquet said he was under significant pressure at the time and was unsure whether or not he was going to be kept on by Renault beyond the end of the season. The team’s managing director, Flavio Briatore, who had asked Piquet to crash, left his job and was later effectively banned from the sport for life, though Renault were allowed to continue in Formula One.

“This Test match needs to proceed, and in the interim we will continue to investigate this matter with the urgency that it demands,” Cricket Australia’s CEO James Sutherland said on Sunday.



“As I said earlier today, Cricket Australia and Australian cricket fans expect certain standards of conduct from cricketers representing our country, and on this occasion these standards have not been met. All Australians, like us, want answers and we will keep you updated on our findings, as a matter of priority.”

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Cricket Australia’s head of integrity, Iain Roy, was rushed onto a plane to South Africa to gather more information on the incident before any more permanent sanctions are imposed. For some though, with two days of play remaining, it was a weak gesture and Smith should have already paid a heftier price.

Politicians, including the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull, former cricketers and other sportspeople all weighed in on Australia’s day of shame. News bulletins led with the revelation, commentators were hastily assembled in front of cameras and social media went into meltdown. Many demanded Smith’s head be served up on a platter. Turnbull stopped short of endorsing those calls, but said he was “shocked and disappointed” at the captain’s behaviour.

The Australian Sports Commission – the government body that oversees and funds the nation’s sporting organisations –backed the immediate removal of Smith and any other members of the leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of the plan.

Play Video 1:17 'This is a shocking disappointment' - says Australian PM about ball-tampering incident - video

The former Australia skipper, Michael Clarke, said his successor’s actions were “disgraceful” and “premeditated … blatant” cheating. The veteran broadcaster Jim Maxwell was close to tears on air as he labelled the incident “so blatant and so stupid, immature, naive ... it was hugely disappointing”. Former Test player Simon Katich said Smith and coach Darren Lehmann had no option but to resign or be sacked, and Adam Gilchrist was “sad, shocked, stunned” at the news.

Condemnation was not restricted to disappointed Australians either; the former England captain, Michael Vaughan, said Smith’s position was now untenable while Kevin Pietersen called for the leadership group, along with Lehmann, to go.

Quick guide Ball tampering Show Hide What is ball tampering? When someone interferes with the condition of the ball with the primary aim of altering its aerodynamics. Why would they do that? To gain an advantage over the batsman by making the ball swing more in the air, to achieve reverse swing or to degrade the ball to a point that a new one is required. New balls are favoured by fast bowlers as they move quicker and bounce more. How can it be it done? The ball can either be shined on one side – with the application of lip balm, saliva sweetened by a lolly, polish, sun cream or hair gel – or made more abrasive on the other – by scuffing the ball with a finger nail, rough paper, dirt or even teeth. The seam of the ball can also be picked. Why is it considered cheating? Ball tampering is outlawed by the Laws of Cricket. Under law 41, it is an offence for any player to take any action which changes the condition of the ball, however polishing it on clothing, removing mud and drying the ball with a pre-approved piece of cloth are acceptable. If an offence is found to have taken place during a match, five penalty runs are awarded to the batting side and the doctored ball must be replaced. If discovered retrospectively, other sanctions can be applied.

Photograph: www.alamy.com

Bill Peever, CA’s chairman, said the board fully supported the impending investigation into events in Cape Town.



“We regard this as a matter of the utmost seriousness and urgency. We will ensure we have all information available to make the right decisions for Australian Cricket,” Peever said.

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The former Australia wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist called the side the “laughing stock” of world cricket and has called Smith’s long term future into question.



“I’m really sad, shocked, stunned – I’m not trying to over-dramatise it but [I’m] really emotional about this,” Gilchrist said on Network Ten. “Australian cricket now and the integrity of Australian cricket is the laughing stock of world sport.

“This clearly is against the laws of the game and we’ve just had our national captain and our national team admit that they sat down, premeditated and pre-planned a way to cheat. I’m not sure he [Smith] can remain captain.

“I think it’s a pretty tough position to hold after you’ve admitted to what you’ve admitted to, [to be able to] carry on with any faith from anyone watching.”