South African cricket team captain Faf du Plessis called Steven Smith’s 12-months suspension was ‘harsh’ decision. He remarked the week as a ‘crazy week’ where he feels sorry for the suspended Aussie skipper.
During the day three of the third Test between the hosts South Africa and Australia at Cape Town, Australian opener Cameron Bancroft was caught in the on-field video to trying change the ball condition through the sandpaper.
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In the post-match press-conference, Bancroft and Smith both admitted that incident while Smith also said that the leadership group knew that incident as they instructed Bancroft to do that.
Later, Cricket Australia (CA) investigation revealed that David Warner was also involved in that scandal as he was the mastermind of that.
While ICC only suspended Steven Smith for one Test (along with 100% match-fees fine), CA has banned Smith & Warner for one year and Bancroft for nine months from the international and domestic cricket.
In the addition, Smith and Bancroft will have to wait one more year after the end of their suspensions to able for leading the national side once again, while Warner will never be able to lead the national side again.
On the other hand, Australian head coach Darren Lehmann has decided to resign from the role after the last Test in the four-match Test series against the hosts South Africa.
Protease skipper Faf du Plessis especially feels sorry for suspended Australian captain Steven Smith. Talking about Smith, du Plessis said, “It’s been a crazy week. I have compassion for what he’s going through. I think he’s one of the good guys and he’s just been caught in a bad place.
“I did send him a text. From a really deep place in my heart, I feel for the guy. I don’t want to see guys going through that stuff. It’s going to be incredibly hard for him over the next days so I sent him a message of support, saying he’ll get through this and he must be strong.”
When Faf was asked if the sledging should be banned, he replied, “I think so. I don’t think that sledging has had that much influence on the way people play. I think it’s something in the past that people maybe thought had a huge impact.
“Maybe there are one or two guys that still feel a bit more pressure when there is a bit of verbal on the field. For me, it motivates me when I hear people say things on the field.
“Generally, in cricket over the past two years, I haven’t felt like that boundary has been pushed a lot with playing different teams.”
The recent several controversial incidents have forced ICC to review of the code of conduct and penalties.
Faf said on that, “I think it’s overdue. All we ask for is consistency. There are a lot of grey areas.”
Also read: ICC Keen To Review Their Rules In Sync With Modern Day Cricket
Interestingly, 33-years old Faf has been found guilty twice for conducting ball-tampering in the international cricket but never received a suspension.
The last Test of the four-match Test series will begin on Friday at Johannesburg. South Africa is leading the series by the 2-1 margin and looking forward to giving no chance to the devastated Australian cricket team.
