Steve Smith breaks down while addressing the media

Australian skipper Steve Smith fronted the media on Thursday for the first time after getting banned by Cricket Australia (CA) for one year. The press conference was held at the Sydney airport after the cricketer came back from South Africa in the middle of the series after his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal. He apologised for his actions and took full responsibility as the captain of the team for what happened in Cape Town last week. However, he broke down several times and looked absolutely devastated regretting his actions.

Smith was already banned by ICC for breaching their code of conduct for one Test match and also fined him 100 percent of his match fee. While it emerged later that the vice-captain David Warner was at the centre stage of the plan and encouraged the youngster Cameron Bancroft to do so. The only mistake Smith did was that he didn’t oppose Warner for the same and got involved in the plan not knowing the consequences.

It was a failure of my leadership

Steve Smith was completely heartbroken when he addressed the media after reaching Sydney and apologised to all the cricket fans around the world. “To all of my teammates, to fans of cricket all over the world and to all Australians who are disappointed and angry. I’m sorry. I take full responsibility. There was a failure of leadership, of my leadership. I’ll do everything I can to make up for my mistake and the damage it’s caused,” he said while breaking down in front of the reporters.

The gutted Australian cricketer cried several times while commenting on the infamous incident and felt sorry for his parents for hurting them. He also delivered a message for the young cricketers advising them to think twice before going ahead with any questionable decision they take during their entire career.

“I say two things, or three things. Firstly, I’m deeply sorry. I love the game of cricket, I love entertaining young kids, I love kids wanting to play the great game of cricket that I love. The two other things is that, any time you think about making a questionable decision, think about who you’re affecting, you’re affecting your parents. To see the way my old man’s been … it hurts,” Smith broke down again as his father Peter standing behind him consoled him repeatedly.

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