I’ll regret this for the rest of my life, says the highly emotional Steve Smith

Cricket Australia took a harsh decision to ban both Steve Smith and David Warner for a one-year period. Smith landed today in Australia from South Africa and attended the press conference to say his side of the story.

A highly emotional Smith said that he will take the full responsibility for making a serious error of tampering the ball with sandpaper and he wants youngsters to take this as a lesson and change themselves for the good future of the game.

“I want to, as captain of the Australian cricket team, I take full responsibility. I made a serious error in judgment. It was a failure of leadership, my leadership. I will do everything I can to make up for my mistake and the damage it’s caused. If any good is to come from this it can be a lesson for others and I hope I can be a force for change,” said Smith as quoted by ICC Website.

I’m absolutely gutted, says an emotional Smith

“I know I’ll regret this for the rest of my life. I’m absolutely gutted. I hope in time I can earn back respect and forgiveness. Cricket is the greatest game in the world. Its been my life and I hope it will be again.”

Asked if there were any previous instances of ball tampering under his leadership, he said, “To my knowledge, this has never happened before. It is the first time, and it will never happen again.”

When asked if he blamed the vice-captain David Warner, he said that he wants to take the whole responsibility, “I don’t blame anyone, I’m the captain, it’s on my watch and I take responsibility for what happened in Cape Town.”

Steve Smith will miss the upcoming IPL season and he will be back to the cricketing world in March 2019. However, the trio has an option to challenge the Cricket Australia’s decision.

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