Steve Smith wasn't fully aware of the ball-tampering ploy

Visuals of Steve Smith breaking down in front of the media in a press conference, while confessing to his involvement in the ball tampering fiasco, melted more than one heart all around the world. Soon after, his teammate David Warner also admitted his mistake in a teary-eyed statement in a presser. However, if recent reports are to be believed, the former Australian captain wasn’t completely in the know of things when this entire ugly saga unfolded.

The infamous ‘Sandpaper Gate’ has been the most talked-about incident in the cricketing world in the last few days and the nightmarish scenes of Cameron Bancroft putting down a yellow adhesive tape down the front of his trousers being broadcast on the giant screen will haunt the followers of the game for years to come.

While all three Australian players have been banned from the game after an immersive investigation was conducted by Cricket Australia (CA), it now appears as if the skipper was only partially aware of the plans before he saw the on-field visuals on the giant screen.

Cricket Australia’s report says Smith only knew half the plan

As quoted from Cricket Australia’s investigation report by Sydney Morning Herald, Steve Smith was not fully aware of Australia‘s ball tampering plot and did not know key elements of the plan until he saw the incident on the big screen. According to Fairfax Media (who co-own Sydney Morning Herald), investigators were told that although Smith knew about the plan being in place, he did not know the exact workings of how it was going to be carried out.

Further, Smith had reportedly expressed his distaste towards the plan but did not take any measures to stop it from occurring. After being banned by CA for 12 months and stripped off his captaincy role, Smith owned up to his mistake and also relented it as “a failure of his leadership.” CA had charged Smith with having “knowledge of a potential plan” to tamper with the ball but not taking “steps to seek to prevent the development and implementation of that plan”.

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