SA vs AUS 2018: Australian fans let down by team's ball-tampering attempt

Cameron Bancroft has received demerit points from ICC.

Steve Smith handed one-match suspension by ICC | Getty Images

Australian cricket fans are disappointed and angry with the national players’ latest unpleasant act of ball tampering during the Cape Town Test against South Africa.

Steve Smith –led Australian Team has given the darkest day to the Australian cricket history when they have been caught red-handed ball-tampering, and even admitting a premeditated attempt on the third day of the third Test of the four-match series in South Africa.

Hundreds of Australian supporters arrived South Africa to support their side in this most combative Test series by traveled a vast distance and spent thousands of dollars, but Team's infamous act “left them in absolute shock”, who were saying that their reputation was being trashed by the ball-tampering saga.

Scott Keeley from Adelaide told Reuters, “It is amazingly disappointing. It’s disgraceful actually. We are staying in the same hotel as the players and walking through there last night and this morning, it is like being at a funeral. It was very sombre. Some of the players not involved in this match were going about their business as usual, but the ones involved in the game where harder to spot, which is a change from the previous days. It has left us in absolute shock. This is not what Australian sport is about. The tough but fair (style) is something that we share with South Africa in the way we like to play our sport.”

Australian fans were left stunned by the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town | AP

Following the incident, Captain Smith was suspended from the final Testy on 30 January by ICC, while Cricket Australia is currently investigating a ball-tampering scandal.

Keeley further said, “It feels like a token gesture, though, because I see him out there. But I think the worst is still to come for Steve Smith. In our tour group, I know there are a lot of people who didn’t come today. The yellow t-shirts are nowhere near as prevalent. The vibe amongst the group is very much one of disgust and disappointment.”

Meanwhile, Chris McIntyre –a member of another group from Brisbane, said, “You have got to maintain the credibility of the game. Steve is a great cricketer, but he was captain of Australia ... everybody involved in Australian cricket should be disappointed in the actions of yesterday. It is against the spirit of cricket. We would like to say we are competitive and that we do like to win, and we are out to win. But the game of cricket is bigger than one result.”

McIntyre signed off by saying, “Just in our tour group there is excess of 100 people and there are probably three or four other groups. So you have three or four hundred Australians who are here at Newlands and you would like to see cricket that is in the spirit of the game.”

 

 
 

By Rashmi Nanda - 26 Mar, 2018

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