Glenn Maxwell feels that Smith, Warner and Bancroft were being treated as criminals

The Australian cricket was dealt with a lightning blow as two of their senior and important cricketers David Warner and Steve Smith were slapped with a 12-month ban, for their involvement in the ball-tampering scandal in the Test match against South Africa. Along with the duo, opener Cameron Bancroft who was caught on camera altering the condition of the ball was also handed a 9-month ban by Cricket Australia (CA).

The culprit trio was subsequently barred from participation in the final Test match and thus, the visitors fielded a rather inexperienced team for the deciding encounter of the series and subsequently ended up losing the game and series by a huge margin.

It was hard to see my teammates being treated as criminals: Maxwell

Australian hard-hitting batsman Glenn Maxwell, who was one of the three players who was brought in as replacements for the suspended trio, recently voiced his opinion on this whole ball-tampering controversy. Maxwell stated that it was very much unfortunate to see his teammates being treated as criminals. Much like Maxwell, the whole cricket fraternity was completely astonished looking at the outrage against Smith at the airport in South Africa, while returning back to Australia.

”I think the way they saw it, it was obviously beaten up a fair bit and they’ve seen a couple of their mates treated like criminals,” said Maxwell in a conversation with Melbourne’s Radio SEN.

The banned trio have all accepted the sanctions ordered by their cricket board and have decided to not challenge the verdicts. While, following their arrival in Australia, Smith, Bancroft, and Warner confronted the Australian media and apologized for their mistakes and asked for forgiveness from the cricket fans and especially the people in Australia. Maxwell admitted that it was very difficult for the Australian team to get themselves ready for the final Test match after such horrendous happenings going around them.

“That is a hard thing for you to watch as a teammate, and to what they went through, especially Steve Smith at the airport, that was a hard thing for everyone to watch. To then try and get yourself ready for a game of cricket a day later was extremely difficult, and I certainly didn’t envy their position at all. It was an extremely tough time for that whole playing group,” further added the hard-hitting Aussie batsman.

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