Australia ball-tampering scandal: Events that led to bans for Steve Smith, David Warner, and Justin Langer replacing Darren Lehmann

Disgraced Australia skipper Steve Smith and senior batsman David Warner were on Wednesday banned from cricket for 12 months over a cheating scandal that has rocked the sport and dragged their side’s reputation through the mud. Both players have also been ejected from this year’s Indian Premier League, losing contracts worth up to $2 million each. A statement from Cricket Australia (CA) said Smith and Warner had been suspended from “all international and domestic cricket” while opening batsman Cameron Bancroft has been banned for nine months. However the statement said all three players involved in the ball-tampering incident during the third Test in South Africa will be “permitted” and “encouraged” to play club cricket, the statement said. Here’s a look at the timeline of the controversy: [caption id=“attachment_4409697” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] File image of Steve Smith (L) and David Warner (R). AFP[/caption] 24 March, Saturday At the lunch break on the third day of the third Test in Cape Town, Australia were in trouble. South Africa’s lead was over 100 runs with just one wicket down, and the ball wasn’t doing much to help Australia. With the series 1-1 with one more Test to play after Cape Town, it was a crucial moment in a battle between the arch-rivals. Skipper Smith and other senior Australia players — Smith referred to them as the “leadership group” but later it was revealed that the group consisted of Smith and Warner– decided they will tamper with the ball when play restarts, a desperate attempt to get it to reverse swing and give their struggling bowlers an advantage. Smith said no members of the coaching staff knew about the players’ intentions. The Australians got a yellow sandpaper from a team kit bag to if they could get some loose dirt from the pitch stuck to it when they’re back out on the field, and then using it to rough up the ball. Opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was chosen as the player to do the tampering because he was in the vicinity of the discussion between the senior players in the dressing room, according to Smith. As the TV cameras picked up the footage of Bancroft rubbing the sandpaper with the ball, suspicions were raised whether the ball was tampered. The replays of the event was replayed over and over on the big screen, in close up and slow-motion. The embarrassing images are also replayed on TVs all around the world. Panicking when the on-field umpires become interested, Bancroft resorted to hiding the sandpaper down the front of his trousers. He produced a harmless sunglasses bag from his pocket when approached by the umpires, and appeared to have gotten away with it. But his desperate attempt to hide the evidence in his trousers was caught by TV, and replaying multiple times. After the day’s play, Australia announced that they won’t be doing normal interviews with the host broadcasters, and appearing only at a news conference. With overwhelming video evidence against them, Smith and Bancroft faced the music at the conference, admitting everything in front of yet more television cameras. Smith said the players were desperate to try and gain some advantage because “we saw this game as such an important game.” 25 March, Sunday Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland refused to take any immediate action against captain Steve Smith over the ball-tampering scandal, saying an investigative team has been sent to South Africa to look into all aspects before deciding what action to take. Sutherland also refused to make comment on Smith’s long-term position as captain on Sunday, a position Smith, while embarrassed and regretful, had said he would not resign from. The bigger picture was the public back home in Australia, who woke up to the embarrassing news. Everyone from the Prime Minister of the country to common public condemned the blatant cheating of Smith and Co. CA asked both the skipper and David Warner to step down from their leadership roles. Tim Paine was appointed as the captain for the remainder of the Test. Later, Australia suffered a humiliating defeat at the hands of South Africa, losing the Test by 322 runs. Smith was handed a one-match ban and fined 100% of his match fee by ICC. Bancroft was fined 75 percent of his match fee and handed three demerit points for breaching Level 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct. 26 March, Monday Cricket Australia’s investigation team comprising of head of integrity Iain Roy and head of team performance Pat Howard arrive in South Africa to conduct the interview. Australian press went bonkers with the cheating scandal, calling the cricket team’s ball-tampering has shamed the country. 27 March, Tuesday Media reports came out suggesting that head coach Darren Lehmann will step down from his role. Sutherland arrives in South Africa to join the investigation team. After the conclusion of the preliminary investigation, Sutherland addresses the media, saying only three players were found guilty of ball-tampering – captain Smith, vice-captain Warner and Bancroft. All three players were given orders to leave South Africa by Wednesday. Matthew Renshaw, Joe Burns and Glenn Maxwell will replace the three players charged in the Test squad. Sutherland also said that sanctions will be declared in a span of 24 hours as the full investigation was yet to complete. 28 March, Wednesday In a press release, CA confirmed that Smith and Warner have been banned for 12 months for their roles in the ball-tampering scandal. Bancroft will be out of cricket for nine months. Smith and Bancroft will have to wait two years before they are considered for leadership roles, and even then it will “be conditional on acceptance by fans and the public”. Warner will never be considered for any leadership role. 29 March, Thursday All the three players made their return to Australia from South Africa. The day started with David Warner posting an apology message on social media. “Mistakes have been made which have damaged cricket,” he said on Instagram in breaking his silence over the incident in the third Test against South Africa last weekend. “I apologise for my part and take responsibility for it.” Later in the day, Cameron Bancroft faced media at Perth. “I lied…and I am sorry,” said Bancroft as he pleaded forgiveness for his role in the “devastating” ball-tampering scandal that led to a nine-month ban on him. Then as soon as Steve Smith arrived in Sydney, he faced the media. Smith, overwhelmed by emotions, said, “I made a serious error of judgement and I now understand the consequences. It was a failure of leadership…my leadership. I’ll do everything I can to make up for my mistake and the damage it has caused.” He broke down multiple times in the press conference and repeatedly said he was sorry for what happened in South Africa. 29 March, Thursday A tearful Darren Lehmann said on Thursday he would quit as coach of the scandal-tainted Australia cricket team after the fourth and final Test of the ongoing series in South Africa. “This will be my last Test as head coach of the Australian cricket team,” Lehmann told a press conference on the eve of the match. “Saying goodbye to the players was the toughest thing I have ever had to do.” “I am ultimately responsible for the culture of the team and I’ve been thinking about my position for a while. Despite telling media yesterday that I’m not resigning, after viewing Steve and Cameron’s hurting, it is only fair that I make this decision.” Lehmann was hailed as a saviour when he took over in 2013, but critics now accuse him of overseeing a toxic culture that has dented the reputation of the famed Baggy Green cap. After being appointed, Lehmann’s response when asked to list his top three priorities was telling. 6 April, Friday Australia top cricket chiefs ruled out stepping down on Friday, after a ball-tampering scandal shocked the nation, saying it was “not the time for a witch-hunt”, as a review into player conduct was announced. Critics have questioned whether CA’s role in the affair should come under scrutiny, but chairman David Peever said he did not intend to step down and that chief executive James Sutherland’s job was not in jeopardy. “James Sutherland’s position is not under review, he continues to retain the full support of the board,” Peever told reporters in Brisbane. “In respect to my own position, no, I do not intend to step down, and that hasn’t been suggested by the board. Our task now is to work through this problem and make sure we come through and cricket comes through it much more strongly.” He added that former Test opener Rick McCosker would also chair a separate process driven by players and former players to consider a charter setting out “standards of behaviour and expectations of Australian teams”. 11 April, Wednesday Fast bowlers were the winners, as Australia’s post-ball tampering era began on Wednesday with a heavily revamped list of nationally contracted players, minus the suspended Steve Smith and David Warner. The list of 20 men’s players offered deals by Cricket Australia for the 2018-19 season on the basis of their performances over the past 12 months included five first-timers. Speedsters Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson and Andrew Tye made the cut, along with all-rounder Marcus Stoinis and wicketkeeper Alex Carey. New Test captain Tim Paine and batsman Shaun Marsh rejoined the list, while spinner Adam Zampa, pacemen Jackson Bird and James Pattinson, all-rounder Hilton Cartwright and wicketkeeper Matthew Wade dropped off. Chadd Sayers, who played the final match of the four-Test series against South Africa, missed out. 13 April, Friday Matt Renshaw will play for English county side Somerset this season, replacing disgraced Australian Test teammate Cameron Bancroft, the club announced. England-born Renshaw, 22, also replaced Bancroft in the Australian side when his fellow opener was flown home with captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner as a result of the scandal ahead of the fourth and final Test with South Africa last month. 1 May, Tuesday Cricket Australia on Tuesday appointed an ethics guru to review the sport’s culture in the wake of the cheating scandal that has rocked ’the gentleman’s game’. The governing body said it wanted to ensure there was never a repeat of the conduct during the third Test against South Africa in March that tarnished Australian cricket’s reputation. CA has acknowledged cultural issues within the team and on Tuesday said Simon Longstaff would conduct a wide-ranging review into the sport. Longstaff is head of Sydney-based non-profit organisation The Ethics Centre, which aims to promote ethical decision-making in business, government and everyday life. He is expected to quiz current and former players, administrators, media and sponsors about ethical issues facing the sport before making recommendations. Longstaff’s review will run in tandem with a separate probe announced last month into player behaviour headed by former Test batsman Rick McCosker. Former test players Shane Watson and George Bailey will join Australia captains Tim Paine and Rachael Haynes on the McCosker panel. The player review would also include fast bowler Pat Cummins and Darren Lehmann’s replacement as coach of the men’s team, CA said. 3 May, Thursday Justin Langer has been named the new head coach of the Australia cricket team, replacing Darren Lehmann, Cricket Australia said on Thursday. Former Test opening batsman Langer, 47, will coach Australia in all three formats of the game — Tests, one dayers and Twenty20 — and will begin his new role on 22 May in a four-year term, CA said. Langer’s tenure will cover two Ashes series, a World Cup and World T20 tournament. “It is humbling to be appointed as coach of the Australian men’s cricket team,” Langer said. “I am very excited about the scope I now have to coach the country that supported me so much in my cricketing career. Langer has also been involved in the Australian men’s team set-up as an assistant coach for three years from November 2009, before taking up head coaching roles with Western Australia and Perth Scorchers. He has also twice been Australia’s head coach on an interim basis, in an ODI Tri-Series in the Caribbean in 2016, and in a T20 International Series on home soil against Sri Lanka in 2017. With inputs from Agencies