Cape Town, March 25 (IANS) Australia captain Steve Smith has been handed a one-match suspension and fined his entire match fee after admitting to ball tampering during the third day of the ongoing third cricket Test against South Africa here.

Australian fielder Cameron Bancroft was captured on camera on Saturday while putting a yellow object down the front of his pants moments before the umpires seemingly inquired about the contents of his pockets.

Television footage later showed Bancroft rubbing the ball and then seemingly putting an object back in his pocket. Bancroft admitted that the object used was a yellow tape.

“Australia captain Steve Smith has been handed a one-match suspension and fined 100 percent of his match fee following his admission yesterday that he was party to a decision to attempt to change the condition of the ball in order to gain an unfair advantage,” the International Cricket Council (ICC) said in a statement on Sunday.

“ICC chief executive David Richardson laid the charge against Smith under to Article 2.2.1 of the ICC Code of Conduct for players and player support personnel which prohibits ‘all types of conduct of a serious nature that is contrary to the spirit of the game’.

“Smith accepted the charge and the proposed sanction of two suspension points which equates to a ban for the next Test match and which will see four demerit points added to his record,” the statement added.

Additionally, Bancroft has been fined 75 percent of his match fee and handed three demerit points for breaching Level 2 of the ICC Code of Conduct.

“Bancroft admitted that he breached Article 2.2.9 of the ICC Code of Conduct for Players and Player Support Personnel, which relates to “changing the condition of the ball in breach of clause 41.3.” and accepted the sanction proposed by Andy Pycroft of the Emirates Elite Panel of ICC Match Referees, and as such there was no need for a formal hearing,” the statement said.

“The incident that led to the charges being laid took place during South Africa’s innings on Saturday afternoon when Bancroft was seen on television holding a foreign object while rubbing the ball, before hiding the object in his pocket, then inside his trousers,” it added.

As soon as the incident was shown on the giant screen, the player was questioned in the presence of his captain Steve Smith by the two on-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong.

The onfield officials along with third umpire Ian Gould and fourth umpire Allahudien Palekar later charged Bancroft.

The umpires inspected the ball at that time and elected not to replace the ball and award a five-run penalty as they could not see any marks on the ball that suggested that its condition had been changed as a direct result of Bancroft’s actions.

The umpires though agreed that Bancroft’s actions were likely to alter the condition of the ball and he was therefore charged under Article 2.2.9.

“To carry a foreign object on to the field of play with the intention of changing the condition of the ball to gain an unfair advantage over your opponent is against not only the Laws, but the Spirit of the game as well,” Pycroft said.

“That said, I acknowledge that Cameron has accepted responsibility for his actions by pleading guilty to the charge and apologising publicly. As a young player starting out in international cricket, I hope the lessons learned from this episode will strongly influence the way he plays the game during the rest of his career,” he added.

–IANS
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