Former Australia captain Steve Smith was hopeful of his ban being lifted by Cricket Australia earlier this week but now just wants to get done with it and play cricket, according to pacer Pat Cummins.
Smith, his deputy David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft were handed lengthy bans by Cricket Australia after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa earlier this year.
However, after an independent review into the culture of Australian cricket said that Cricket Australia was partially responsible for the controversy after promoting a win-at-all-costs attitude within the team, the Australian Cricketers’ Association had called for the bans to be slashed.
Cricket Australia had a board meeting earlier this week to discuss the matter but eventually decided against reducing the bans. Smith and Warner’s suspensions will end on March 29, while Bancroft will be free to play international and domestic cricket after December 29.
Despite being ineligible to play international cricket or top-tier domestic cricket in Australia, the three players have been playing lower-level grade cricket and in various T20 tournaments around the world.
Cummins said that Smith has got over the decision to stick with the bans but is tired of the media attention.
“I think he’s pretty disappointed,” Cummins said, as quoted by cricket.com.au. “I think he was hopeful of that getting lifted.
“But to be honest I think he’s just over it – all the speculation and talk. He’s just over it. He wants to play some cricket.
“There’s some good T20 competitions around the world coming up that hopefully he’ll go and play. I think he’s sick of all the talk.
“He said he’s in a really good place. He’s happy, he’s playing – obviously he’d love to be playing the Tests and everything else coming up. But he’s just ready to get over it.”
Smith will continue to play for New South Wales Premier Cricket team Sutherland until mid-February, before heading to the UAE for the Pakistan Super League.