Former Australia captain Steve Smith has confirmed via social media on Wednesday that he won’t appeal Cricket Australia’s ban which means he be will out from both international and domestic cricket for the next 12 months.
After Cricket Australia (CA) imposed 12 months ban on Steve Smith and David Warner, the cricket world including many greats felt the punishment doesn’t fit the crime and therefore there was a big chance of the ban to get reduced.
But Smith himself declined to appeal for the ban and he wants to accept the message which CA wants to send by imposing the ban.
“I would give anything to have this behind me and be back representing my country. But I meant what I said about taking full responsibility as Captain of the team. I won’t be challenging the sanctions. They’ve been imposed by CA to send a strong message and I have accepted them,” Smith said on social media.
On the other hand, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are yet to announce whether they will appeal or not.
Warner has been banned for 12 months and also had a lifetime leadership ban imposed on him while Bancroft who has just played 8 Test matches for Australia so fa, has been banned for 9 months.
All three have sought legal advice on whether to challenge their bans and Warner in particular is understood to be particularly keen to put his case to an independent code-of-conduct commissioner.
CA has made it clear its sanctions aren’t for ball tampering, rather conduct “contrary to the spirit of the game”, “unbecoming of a representative”, that “could be harmful to the interests of cricket and/or … brought the game of cricket into disrepute”.
