In the wake of the astonishing ball-tampering scandal featuring Cameron Bancroft surrounding the third Test between South Africa and Australia, the sports commission Down Under on Sunday called for Steve Smith to be removed as captain.
Smith was subject to an enormous amount of backlash from the cricket world and former Australian players, who slammed the number one ranked Test batsman after he, along with Bancroft admitted to have planned to use an external substance to scub the ball.
Australia Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull weighed in on the incident, saying it “beggars belief” that role models such as Australian cricketers were “engaged in cheating like this”.
The Australian Sports Commission CEO Kate Palmer, who spoke on behalf of the Australian government, criticised the actions of their team.
“The ASC condemns cheating of any form in sport. The ASC expects and requires that Australian teams and athletes demonstrate unimpeachable integrity in representing our country,” ESPNCricinfo reported ASC as saying.
“Given the admission by Australian captain Steve Smith, the ASC calls for him to be stood down immediately by Cricket Australia, along with any other members of the team leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of, or involvement in, the plan to tamper with the ball. This can occur while Cricket Australia completes a full investigation.”
The ongoing series has already been marred by several on-field and off-field incidents. South Africa currently lead by 294 runs with five wickets in hand going into day four.
