SYDNEY: Disgraced Steve Smith admitted Friday he failed as a captain by turning a blind eye to the ball-tampering scandal and said it has been hard watching Australia struggle from the sidelines.
The former skipper is still serving a one-year ban from the international and domestic game for his part in the incident that rocked the cricket world, in which sandpaper was used to try and rough up the ball in South Africa.
Asked what went on in the changing rooms before Cameron Bancroft and David Warner went out and attempted to cheat, he said: “I had the opportunity to stop it at that point rather than say, ‘I don’t want to know anything about it’.
“And that was my failure of leadership. And, you know, I’ve taken responsibility for that.”
Speaking to the media in Australia for the first time since he broke down in tears at a press conference following the scandal in March, Smith said it was the only incident of ball-tampering that he knows about.
The scandal had far-reaching consequences with a clean-out of top executives from Cricket Australia after a scathing review blamed its “arrogant and controlling” culture was partly to blame for players bending the rules.
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