Former Australia skipper Steve Smith and his then deputy David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft were banned for their part in the Ball Tampering scandal in Cape Town.

But according to former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff, Smith just “took the blame” to save his side. According to the Englishman, the entire Australian team was involved in the ball-tampering scandal that rocked world cricket in 2018.

“I can’t believe that the whole team isn’t in on it. As a bowler, if someone gives me a ball that’s been tampered with, I know initially. One of the things that Steve Smith did is take the blame for everyone else,” Flintoff said.

Flintoff then talked about how different things have been tried to alter the conditions of the cricket ball but using sandpaper is just “stupid” according to the 42-year-old.

“Things like ball-tampering have gone on for a long, long time and I think it’s just the degrees where you take it. We were accused of putting sweets on the ball. People put suncream on it, tried everything they can,” he said.

“Sandpaper is wrong, but it’s stupid more than anything. But I can’t believe that everyone in the team wasn’t involved in some way or another,” said the former captain who took 400 wickets and scored over 7000 runs in his career.

The all-rounder who retired at the age of 31 could still give everything up to play just one more Test match for England.

“It’s getting easier as I’m 42 and don’t think I should be playing cricket now, but when I finished at 31, I couldn’t go anywhere near it, I just wanted to be a cricketer. Still, now I would swap everything I do to play one more Test match and wear that England badge at Old Trafford one more time,” Flintoff said.

(With PTI inputs)