Emotional Steve Smith Seeks Forgiveness, Hopes To Earn Back Respect

Sydney: Soon after arriving in Sydney after his ouster following the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town Test, Former Australia captain Steve Smith issued a public apology admitting the mistake as a failure of his leadership and a huge error of judgment. A teary-eyed Steve Smith hoped that he can be a force for change and will regret what had transpired at Newlands for the rest of his life.

Steve Smith’s apology comes in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, in which Australian opener Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera while he was using a sand-paper to tamper the ball. The ball-tampering incident has comes as a shocker for cricket fans and players alike. The Saturday episode in Cape Town on Day three of the third South Africa versus Australia will go down in cricket history as one of the darkest ever besmirching the gentleman’s game.

"To all of my teammates, to fans of cricket and to all Australians who are disappointed and angry, I'm sorry," said Smith.

"What happened in Cape Town has already been laid down...I want to make clear, as captain of the Australian cricket team, I take full responsibility. It was a failure of my leadership," an emotional Smith said regretfully in the presence of media men at the Sydney airport.

Also Read: David Warner Writes To Cricket Fans, Regrets Mistake

Captain Steve Smith and Vice-captain David Warner have been handed a year’s ban, which rules out their chances of playing against India in the home series. Meanwhile, young Cameron Bancroft has been suspended for nine months by Cricket Australia which has viewed the disgraceful incident by the trio with the seriousness it deserves. The ban on three of the key Australian players would dent Australia’s on-field performance. It is learned that it was Warner who came up with the idea while Bancroft executed the plan and Smith is facing music for not stopping it even after being in the know of things.

"If any good can come from this, is the lesson to others, I hope I can be a force for change. I know I'll regret for the rest of my life. I'm gutted. I hope in time I can earn back respect and forgiveness," said Smith before saying "sorry".

"I've been so privileged and honoured to represent my country and the Australian cricket team. I'm sorry and I'm absolutely devastated," said Smith, who won't be able to captain the Australian team for the next two years.

"I've made a big mistake by allowing this to happen. It was a huge error of judgement. To my knowledge, this has never happened before. I can assure you it'll never be happening again," said Smith, taking responsibility of what happened in South Africa.

"I don't blame anyone. I'm the captain. It was on my watch. I take responsibility," he added.