Steve Smith was hopeful of ban being lifted: Pat Cummins
Former Australian skipper Steve Smith is serving a 12-month ban alongside star player David Warner for their involvement in a ball-tampering scandal against Proteas. The ball-tampering incident happened in March, this year, and the two star players still have four months to go before they can play for Australia again. However, Pat Cummins has stated that Smith was hopeful of the ban being lifted.
Smith had hoped ban would be lifted recently
Cummins said that Smith was hopeful his ban would get lifted in the board meeting of Cricket Australia, which was held a few days earlier. The meeting was called after the Australian Cricketers' Association had pressurized CA to reduce the tenure of the ban. Notably, India and Australia would engage in four Tests, next month and Aussies would miss the services of the batsman.
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 a report, 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.
CA was in no mood to lift ban
There were reports that the CA may consider Australian Cricketers' Association's submission to lift the ban, but it decided not to. Smith and Warner were handed a 12-month ban, which is set to end in March, 2019. The third player involved in the scandal, Cameron Bancroft, was handed a 9-month ban. As of now, these three aren't eligible to play domestic and international cricket.
I think he's pretty disappointed, says Cummins
Smith and Warner have been playing lower-level grade cricket, besides participating in T20 tournaments around the world. No wonder they would be desperate to get back on to the field and start playing again. According to a report, Cummins said, "I think he's pretty disappointed. I think he was hopeful of that getting lifted. But to be honest I think he's just over it."
'I think he's sick of all the talk'
"He wants to play some cricket. There's some good T20 competitions around the world coming up that hopefully he'll go and play. I think he's sick of all the talk," said Cummins on all the speculations surrounding Smith.
Smith would have loved to face India
Smith would have loved to be a part of the squad that is set to face India in 4 Tests. In the previous series against India at home, Smith amassed 769 runs in 4 Tests at an average of 128.16. In the 2017-18 Ashes, Smith was tremendous as he scored 687 runs with 3 hundreds to his name. He would be a big miss.
'He said he's in a really good place'
"He said he's in a really good place. He's happy, he's playing - obviously he'd love to be playing the Tests and everything else coming up. But he's just ready to get over it," concluded Cummins.
