Steve Smith, David Warner score runs on home soil first time since ball-tampering scandal

Class is permanent and that was proved again in cricket recently as two of Australia’s most successful current batsmen – Steve Smith and David Warner – were back among runs. Both the players have been serving a year of ban since the ball-tampering scandal that happened in South Africa earlier this year and it was only the first time that they came out with the bat for their respective teams in the NSW Premier Cricket since the incident.

While Smith, the former Australian captain, hit 85 off 92 deliveries for Sutherland against Mosman during which he slammed six fours and one six; the former Australian vice-captain David Warner went ahead to score a century for Randwick-Petersham against St George.

Both Smith and Warner played in the Caribbean Premier League recently. While the former scored 185 runs in seven outings for Barbados Trident before getting ruled out by a side injury, Warner scored 220 runs in nine matches for St Lucia Stars.

Smith gets standing ovation at ground

Although the duo along with some other junior players were cursed by fans, cricketers and administrators from Australia after they found themselves in the middle of the ball-tampering controversy, it looked time healed all the ill-feelings as Smith received a standing ovation when he walked out to bat at the Glenn McGrath Oval in New South Wales in front of some thousand fans.

“It’s awesome to see him playing. I’d prefer him to be playing for Australia, but the support that he got, the warm applause when he scored runs and also when he got out shows that everyone is supporting him,” all-rounder Shane Watson, Smith’s team-mate who missed the match due to injury, was quoted as saying by Sydney Morning Herald. Smith’s parents and wife were also present in the crowd, cheering him. “The support that he’s got today would just reassure (to him) that everything’s OK. People make mistakes and people do forgive and forgive very quickly as well.”

Australia’s head coach Justin Langer, who returned to replace Darren Lehmann after the scandal, expressed similar thoughts saying the side needed the likes of Smith, Warner and Cameron Bancroft, also serving a ban, and stressed on their return for the ICC World Cup in England next year.

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