Steve Smith admitted that he and the senior players conspired to change the condition of the ball.
The Australian ball tampering incident in the third test at Newlands has out the International Cricket Council (ICC) under spotlight as the cricket world waits on what action they will take on Steve Smith and Co.
South Africa coach Ottis Gibson said to SuperSport, “I’m shocked at what’s gone on. I’ve never seen anything as blatant as that. The statement from them said it was the ‘leadership group’ and therefore it was quite a few people involved so we’ll see how the ICC deals with the situation.”
The series has seen controversial behavior from players of both teams like David Warner, Quinton de Kock and Kagiso Rabada.
“From the beginning of the series with all of the stuff that has gone on, I’ve kept saying we need strong officials in a series like this with two tough teams going after each other. Hopefully, the match officials will take strong action in this situation,” he added.
Australia captain Steve Smith admitted that he and the senior players conspired to change the condition of the ball, doing which Cameron Bancroft was caught on the cameras. The ICC has charged Cameron Bancroft and he could cop a one-match ban and a 100 percent match fee fine.
Former South Africa captain Kepler Wessels said the ICC need to be consistent in their punishment and cited the example of Windies keeper Ridley Jacobs, who was banned for three matches for ‘cheating’ in 2001, when stumped out an Indian batsman without a ball in his glove as he broke the wicket.
“If Jacobs got three games for that offence then I wonder what is going to happen to these Australians,” Wessels asked on Sunday.