Australia cricket captain Steve Smith and vice captain David Warner have been banned from playing for their country for 12 months, with Warner identified as the instigator of the ball tampering plot in the test series in South Africa.
Cricket Australia also imposed a nine-month ban on Cameron Bancroft, who carried out the on-field tampering on the instructions of Warner and with the knowledge of skipper Smith. Smith had earlier confirmed his punishment before leaving the tour of South Africa in disgrace.
Cricket Australia said Smith and Warner cannot play any first-class cricket - at international or provincial level - in Australia for a year. They would be permitted to play for their clubs in city-level leagues. Bancroft has similar limitations during his nine-month ban.
Smith can't captain Australia for at least after his playing suspension expires, Cricket Australia ruled. It also said Warner, the pugnacious batsman who has a series of disciplinary breaches in his past, can't ever captain or be vice captain of an Australia team again. In one intriguing detail, CA said that Bancroft used "sandpaper" to tamper with the ball on day three of the third test against South Africa in Cape Town recently. The players previously said Bancroft used a piece of yellow adhesive tape covered with dirt to rub on the ball.
Warner, having initially avoided being named as part of the plot, emerged as the chief planner, according to CA's investigation.
The fallout for the three players increased as the Board of Control for Cricket in India banned the trio for the 2018 Indian Premier League season following the sanctions handed down by CA. Smith and Warner had already been replaced as the captains of their IPL teams but the complete bans for all three denied them lucrative contracts in the Twenty20 league.
