Johannesburg: Star Australia opener David Warner and former captain Steve Smith have reached South Africa for the limited-overs tour Friday. This is the first time since the ball-tampering scandal, that shocked the entire cricketing world, the duo will be playing an international series in the rainbow nation.
Both Warner and Smith, then Australia's captain and vice-captain, were banned by Cricket Australia for one year for their involvement in ball-tampering scandal during the Cape Town Test in March 2018.
Australia will play three T20Is, starting on February 21 and three ODIs during the tour.
What was the Scandal?
In March 2018, during the third Test match between South Africa and Australia at Newlands in Cape Town, Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to make it swing in flight.
It was found that under the direction of captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner opener Bancroft committed the crime. All three were banned by CA after the scandal broke out.
Although he was found not to have been directly involved, Australia's coach, Darren Lehmann, announced he would step down from his role following the scandal. Smith was replaced by Tim Paine as Test captain and Aaron Finch was handed the T20I and ODI captaincy.
Don't boo them
However, on their return to South Africa, Cricket South Africa's interim chief executive Jacques Faul has requested South African fans to "respect" Smith and Warner.
The duo was booed by fans during the ICC World Cup 2019 and the same trend followed in the high-voltage Ashes series against England last summer.
"I would plead with South African fans to respect our opponents and don't go overboard with these things (referring to Smith and Warner). It's competitive on the field, and we don't need it. Sport, in general, doesn't need that behavior. What happened last time the behavior was unfortunate. As much as we appreciate the support and you have to acknowledge the importance of people supporting these events I can only plead that people would treat players with respect," Faul said.
Smith and Warner after comeback
After serving the one-year ban Smith and Warner came back to international cricket with a burden of proving themselves. When Warner failed miserably in the 2019 Ashes, Smith won the Ashes by scoring most number of runs.
774 runs in 4 Tests (7 innings) at an average of 110.57 including a double hundred, 2 more hundreds and 3 fifties – these are mind-boggling numbers achieved by Smith. It was Smith's heroics that helped his side retain the Ashes.
On the other hand, Warner returned to his quintessential form in the 2019 World Cup where scored 647 runs in 10 matches with an average of 71.88 and a strike rate of 89.36. The left-handed batsman scored 3 centuries and three fifties in the mega event. Australia managed to make it to the semifinals of the World Cup due to his extraordinary performance.
