Australian government calls for Steven Smith to be sacked as captain

Just hours after Cricket Australia announced that it would investigate the actions of the Australian team’s leadership in relation to the ball-tampering confession in the Cape Town Test, the Australian government has asked the board to remove Steven Smith as captain. The country’s Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called the incident a “shocking disappointment”.

The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) Chair John Wylie, the ASC Board, and CEO Kate Palmer – essentially speaking for the Australian government – called for severe action against the team. “The ASC condemns cheating of any form in sport,” it said in a statement. “The ASC expects and requires that Australian teams and athletes demonstrate unimpeachable integrity in representing our country.

Board still in the process of pronouncing punishment

“Given the admission by Australian captain Steve Smith, the ASC calls for him to be stood down immediately by Cricket Australia, along with any other members of the team leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of, or involvement in, the plan to tamper with the ball. This can occur while Cricket Australia completes a full investigation,” as reported by Cricinfo.

The government’s point of view emerged shortly after Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland said the board would investigate the ball tampering affair and take further action against the national team beyond the ICC charge accepted by Cameron Bancroft.

With the CA chairman David Peever in transit home from South Africa, Sutherland chose not to travel to see the team himself, instead delegating the matter to the head of integrity, Iain Roy, and the team performance manager Pat Howard. The initiation of this “process” left Sutherland unable to offer anything beyond the conditional endorsement of Steven Smith as “current” captain of the national team.

However, this will not come easy for Cricket Australia because Smith, in the extraordinary press conference, said that he refused to stand down from his captaincy role and clarified that it was his responsibility to steady the ship after this. There are also not many options for Cricket Australia to choose from when deciding who can replace Smith as captain since vice-captain David Warner too has hogged the headlines for the wrong reasons off-late. The stern voice from the Australian government, however, will force CA to take a firm call.