‘What the hell is going on?’ Lehmann’s walkie-talkie message that gave him the clean chit

A day after giving Australia coach Darren Lehmann a clean chit, chief executive James Sutherland on Wednesday reiterated that the former cricketer made an attempt to pull up his players even as the ball-tampering fiasco unfolded in the middle.

Lehmann was on Tuesday cleared by Cricket Australia in the ball-tampering controversy, while captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft were announced as the only three accused. The trio have now been handed significant sanctions.

Sutherland revealed that Lehmann used the walkie-talkie to communicate his surprise to the players and not assist with the ball-tampering.

“I don’t want to get too involved in the specific comments or findings of the review, but I do, in Darren’s defence, want to clarify that specific matter. I want to say that he sent a message to say ‘What in the hell is going on?’ He didn’t use hell, he used another word. That was found to be, through Iain’s (Iain Roy, head of Integrity) investigation, a fact. I want to make that point very clearly that Darren made those comments and Iain was certainly satisfied that Darren wasn’t involved and didn’t know anything about the plan,” Sutherland told reporters on Wednesday.

Sutherland further stated that there was no evidence to prove that the incident wasn’t one-off.

“I don’t think that there’s any evidence that we’ve seen or heard during the investigation. Clearly, the primary focus of his investigation was very much about the events of Cape Town, but also about his discussions and responsibilities was to ask questions more broadly.

“If there are credible allegations or suggestions to the contrary, we have a responsibility to instigate. It doesn’t necessarily stop here, but at the same time through the investigations that far that it does appear to be an isolated incident,” he added.

The ball-tampering incident sparked condemnation from the public back in Australia, where the role of national cricket captain is widely seen as the second most important job in the country behind prime minister.