Smith, Warner and Bancroft to serve complete ban: Cricket Australia
Cricket Australia, on Tuesday, confirmed that the trio of Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will be serving full-term of their respective ban, handed to them, earlier this year for their involvement in a ball-tampering scandal. The Australian Cricketers' Association had urged the board to reduce their ban, but CA was in no mood to compensate. Here's more.
CA in no mood to lift ban
There were reports that the CA may consider Australian Cricketers' Association's submission to lift the ban, but things got clear today. Smith and Warner were handed a 12-month ban, which is set to end on March, 2019. Bancroft was handed a 9-month ban, which would end next month. As of now, these three aren't eligible to play domestic and international cricket.
'Not appropriate to make any changes to the sanctions'
"The Cricket Australia Board has carefully considered all elements of the ACA submission and has determined that it is not appropriate to make any changes to the sanctions handed down to the three players," Interim Chair Earl Eddings stated on Tuesday.
Australian Cricketers' Association had put pressure on CA
CA had come under immense pressure from the Australian Cricketers' Association (ACA) as it called for the ban to end. This happened after the release of the Longstaff review, which put some of the blame for the ball-tampering scandal on Cricket Australia. "The ACA submission around the players' sanctions was received by the board a few days ago," CA CEO Kevin Roberts had stated.
The Aussies were handed a ban in March
Both the former Australian captain Smith and vice-captain Warner are serving a 12-month ban, while Bancroft was axed for 9 months The ban was awarded for their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal which happened during the Test series in South Africa, earlier this year, in March. They were barred from playing domestic Sheffield Shield and the Big Bash Twenty20 competition besides international cricket.
Smith, Warner to play IPL next and perhaps World Cup
The trio will not be taking part in the upcoming India-Australia series. Smith and Warner, who were retained by their IPL franchises, will head straight to the IPL and then could make the cut for the ICC World Cup 2019 next.
