Ian Chappell finds it difficult to understand why Steve Smith was picked as the vice-captain of the Australian Test team even after being banned from the game for cheating in the 2018 Cape Town Test.
Australia’s first assignment under Pat Cummins and Steve Smith will be the Ashes at home next month (Reuters Photo)
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- Steve Smith was appointed the vice-captain of the Australian Test team this week
- Smith was banned from leadership roles for 2 years for his role in the 2018 ball-tampering scandal
- But Smith’s promotion, exactly three years after the ‘sandpaper-gate’, has left some former Australian cricketers in a tizzy
Ian Chappell has come down hard on Cricket Australia (CA) for appointing Steve Smith as the vice-captain of the national Test team, while the former captain has been suspended from the game for 12 months for his involvement in the ball-tampering scandal of 2018. The suspension was served.
Smith was named vice-captain, while Pat Cummins was appointed captain of the Test team after Tim Paine resigned following the ‘sexting’ scandal that took Australian cricket by storm. While Cummins’ appointment was welcomed by former players and pundits, Smith’s promotion just three years after ‘sandpaper-gate’ did not go down well with some.
Smith was removed from captaincy and suspended from all cricket in addition to being considered for a leadership role in the Australian team for a period of two years.
His deputy at the time, David Warner, also received a one-year suspension but is serving a life ban from captaincy/vice-captain as a part of his sentence. This is why Chappell finds it difficult to understand why Smith received a different punishment than Warner, even though he had committed a “greater crime”.
“For starters, I have a problem with why Steve Smith is seen as a different punishment to David Warner? In fact, if anything, I think Steve Smith had more of a crime.
Chappell said, “It’s not fair for the captain to say ‘I don’t want to know’ when fraud is involved. A captain finds out, he has to find out and he has to do something about it. ” 2GB of wide world of sports programs.
Chappell believes that “cheating is cheating” so both Smith and Warner should have been given life bans from captaincy or any other leadership position in the team.
“Either Steve Smith is banned for two years from captaincy and David Warner is banned for life, or Steve Smith is banned for life and so is Dave Warner. Same thing. Cheating is cheating, whether it is a big fraud or a minor fraud. ‘It’s still fraud in my book,'” Chappell said.
Under the leadership of Cummins and Smith, Australia’s first assignment will be the Ashes Test series against England at home from 8 December.
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