Melbourne: Australian cricket authorities are bracing up for a final round of deliberations on reducing the ball-tampering ban on Steve Smith and David Warner, with a face-off against an upbeat India awaiting the weakened home team.
According to Fairfax Media, the CA board will convene a meeting early this week to discuss whether the ban on Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft should be reduced.
This comes in the wake of the Australian Cricketers’ Association asking for a rethink on the suspension sentences following the Longstaff review, which the ACA said provided new and compelling evidence that CA — and not just the players involved — contributed to the atmosphere that prompted the events of the Cape Town Test in March.
Australian cricket is enduring one of its worst phases and a run of losses in recent times prompted calls to bring back the two star players before the contests against India.
Smith and Warner are eight months into their one-year bans, while Bancroft will be eligible to return in December.
But there has been calls for the bans on Smith and Warner to be reduced, given Australia’s poor form and the fact that the top Test side in the world are coming around.
Meanwhile, former pacer Mitchell Johnson on Sunday said the ball-tampering ban on the Australian trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft should not be reduced as the players have not challenged the board’s sentence.
Johnson, however, has spoken against it. “I thought 3 players were banned. So does that mean Cameron Bancroft’s ban will be reduced to the same amount as Smith & Warner if it goes ahead? They all accepted their bans & didn’t contest it so I think the bans should stay,” Johnson tweeted. (PTI)
