Former Australia captain Ricky Ponting believes that the extended bans on Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft for their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal have been a beneficial "shock" to world cricket.

Cricket Australia had imposed a one-year ban on Smith and his deputy Warner for their roles in the ball-tampering plot against South Africa at Newlands in March. Besides, rookie opener Cameron Bancroft, who exploited sandpaper in a bid to alter the conditions of the ball, was barred from international cricket for a period of 9-month.

The issue was discussed during a two-day meeting of the Marylebone Cricket Club (MCC) World Cricket Committee at Lord’s. Notably, Ponting is a member of the MCC World Cricket Committee.

"As a group, we were talking about the stance Cricket Australia took and how harsh that stance might have seemed to ban players for 12 months and nine months respectively," Ponting told a press conference at Lord's on Tuesday.

"It's probably got the desired outcome, a kind of a shock to world cricket. We have seen ball-tampering incidents happen probably more consistently over the last five or six years and to my mind it's because little things have crept in that were allowed to get to a certain point and the tipping point was a pre-meditated act that the Australian players took part in South Africa. So I think we are all very supportive of the ICC stance to penalise anyone who steps out of line a lot more harshly than in the past," he added.

Ponting also highlighted the significance of fair pitches to eradicate the potential problems from cricket. He found the Edgbaston strip, where England beat India by 31 runs, a fantastic wicket for the Test match.

"If you batted well enough you could make runs and if you bowled well enough you could take wickets -- that's because the ball did something through the course of the game,” Ponting said while commenting on the Edgbaston pitch.

"I think the reason reverse-swing has become such a big issue in the past 10 years is that the wickets have got flatter and flatter and there's nothing in it for the bowlers and they have been trying to find a way to keep themselves in the contest. So let's look at having a fair playing surface for everybody and it might start looking after itself," he elaborated.

Ponting, who has led Australia in two World Cup triumphs, also hinted that MCC committee might introduce penalties in a bid to speed up over-rates in Test cricket.

"We are of the belief that a there-and-then run penalty in the game would be definitely worth looking at," Ponting remarked.

"You would imagine then the captains would take a huge responsibility in making sure their players are ready to go through the course of the day. If they are not in a position for three or four overs that could be 20 runs and in the context of the game we saw last week that could be the difference in a Test match," he concluded.

(With AFP inputs)