Steve Smith set to lose Australia captaincy from buzai232's blog

Steve Smith looks set to be permanently stripped of the Australian captaincy and could face a ban of up to a year from representing the country following his leading role in the ball-tampering scandal that has engulfed the tour of South Africa. Smith, who has already lost the captaincy of Rajasthan Royals for the upcoming Indian Premier League, is expected to learn his fate from Cricket Australia on Tuesday evening along with the vice‑captain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft.To get more world news, you can visit shine news official website. Darren Lehmann was said by Smith to have no knowledge of the plan but is under fierce pressure with reports suggesting he will resign on Tuesday.

Questions surround both the veracity of the head coach’s claim and the culture of the Australian side overall. James Sutherland, the CA chief executive, flew to Cape Town on Monday to join an investigation into the crisis that erupted on the third day of Australia’s 322-run defeat in the third Test with South Africa when the television cameras showed Bancroft using a piece of grit-covered sticky tape to scuff the ball. Smith admitted his involvement in the plan, as well as that of the team’s “leadership group”, when attempting to come clean in the post-play press conference that day. He has been banned by the International Cricket Council for the fourth Test that starts in Johannesburg on Friday. The punishments are not expected to end there. Bancroft, who escaped with a fine, faces being stood down for the series finale by Australia along with Warner,who is viewed as central to the scheme hatched in the lunch break.

The Queensland openers Joe Burns and Matt Renshaw are said to be on standby. The signs do not augur well for Smith and Warner in terms of their board’s ultimate response to the crisis either, with reports in Australia suggesting sackings from their respective leadership roles are imminent. Suspensions of up to a year could now follow as a result.Certainly MCC, guardian of the laws and spirit of the game, has taken a dim view, with a statement on Monday that read: “The behaviour of some of the players in the current South Africa/Australia series, and other incidents in recent times in the game we all cherish, has fallen well below the standard required to inspire generations of cricket-loving families.”