Australian cricket captain Steve Smith has been suspended for one test match after admitting to ball tampering in the Third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.
The International Cricket Council announced on Sunday that Smith would also be fined 100% of his match following his admission that he had been party to a decision to attempt to alter the condition of the ball in order to gain an unfair advantage.
Meanwhile, opening batsman, Cameron Bancroft, was fined 75% of his match fee and handed three demerit points “for breaching level 2 of the ICC code of conduct”.
Television footage showed Bancroft appear to conceal an object in his underpants after he was shown on the big screen using the object while shining the ball during play in day three at Newlands.
In its reaction, Cricket Australia removed Smith as captain for the rest of the match while vice-captain David Warner was also replaced.
Cricket Australia also sent officials to South Africa to investigate the matter, saying further action could follow.
Smith admitted in post-match interviews that a “leadership group” had been party to the decision to tamper with the ball.
"It was the leadership group's idea," said Smith. "Poor choice and we deeply regret our actions. The coaches weren't involved. It was purely the leadership group who came up with this. I am not proud of what's happened. It's not within the spirit of the game. My integrity, the team's integrity and the leadership group's integrity have come into question. It won't happen again.
Bancroft said on Saturday that “we had a discussion during the [lunch] break and I saw an opportunity to use some tape, get some granules from the rough patches on the wickets and change the condition, it didn't work, the umpires didn't change the ball.
"I was sighted on the screen and that resulted in me shoving it down my trousers. Once I was sighted on the big screens I panicked quite a lot.
"I want to be here because I'm accountable for my actions. I've got to live with the consequences and the damage to my reputation."
