Another Sri Lankan cricketer has joined the league of players who have shown sympathy for the punished Australian players in the ball tampering row. One of Sri Lanka’s best all rounders and current limited overs captain Angelo Matthews came out on Twitter today and express his support for Steve Smith , David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Interestingly, Steve Smith is also his former teammate when they both represented the same team in the Indian Premier League, Pune Warriors India. Steve Smith, who is often considered by cricket pundits as the best test batsmen of this generation was found guilty of ball tampering along with teammates David Warner and Cameron Bancroft during the Cape Town test in South Africa. Angelo Matthews tweeted “Feel for @stevesmith49 @davidwarner31 and bancroft. what happened was very unfortunate. Huge mistake but they admitted and will learn. Let us show them some compassion to overcome this pain. They deserve a second chance.”
Feel for @stevesmith49 @davidwarner31 and bancroft.what happened was very unfortunate.Huge mistake but they admitted and will learn.Let us show them some compassion to overcome this pain.They deserve a second chance.
— Angelo Mathews (@Angelo69Mathews) March 30, 2018
Post their probe, ICC handed Steve Smith a one-match ban, fined 100% of his match fee and asked him to stand down as Australia captain for the remainder of the third Test against South Africa after admitting his team deliberately tampered with the ball. The vice captain David Warner also stood down while Cameron Bancroft was fined 75% of his match fee and handed three demerit points. However, it created uproar in Australia who take their cricket very seriously. Australian media bashed the trio meticulously and Cricket Australia banned Smith and Warner for 12 months for masterminding the whole ball tampering row and Cameron Bancroft for 9 months. Cricket Australia had also stated that David Warner will never be considered for any leadership roles in the future. Not just that, both Steve Smith and David Warner have been suspended from the 2018 edition of IPL as well. Cameron Bancroft has also been dumped by English county Somerset.
This has been a tough week for cricket and the gentleman’s game has been in the limelight for all the wrong reasons. The cricketing fraternity and the fans also seem to be divided with many terming the one year ban on Smith unfortunate and harsh while there are many who supported the decision and believed that nobody is bigger than the game and it would serve a good message to young upcoming cricketers to play according to the spirit of the game. Steve Smith returned to Australia yesterday and addressed the media and broke down while apologizing for his wrong doings. These are definitely tough times for this world class batsman but hope he comes back stronger.