Australia batsmen Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft should not have their bans for ball-tampering shortened and must serve their suspensions in full, Simon Katich has said.
The former Australia opener stated he thought an early end to any of the trio’s bans would not do any good for the sport’s image, as it works its way back from the Cape Town Test scandal.
Australian Cricketers’ Association president Greg Dyer called for the bans to be eased in the wake of the Ethics Centre’s review into how team mentality operated at the country’s elite level.
But Katich was direct in disagreeing with Dyer’s views and that the one-year bans to Smith and Warner and nine-month ban to Bancroft should be seen out.
“I think the players should see out their bans,” Katich told SEN.
“They admitted what they did was wrong, and they blatantly cheated. I just don’t think shortening the bans is going to do anyone any good.
“I think the public will be disappointed to think they could get away with what they did just because of what this review has found.”
The Ethics Centre report blamed a win-at-all-costs team culture for leading Smith, Warner and Bancroft down a path to using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball during the third Test of an acrimonious tour to South Africa.
But Katich, who represented Australia in 56 Tests, argued blame was not limited to a macho mentality and the decisions by the players themselves makes them accountable.
“They have to be responsible for their actions, regardless of what is going on in the background with the administrators and the culture that’s been created. The players still have to put their hand up – which they have – and cop the bans on the chin and do their time,” he said.
“But what they did, as grown men … they knew they couldn’t take sandpaper out there (on the field) otherwise why were they trying to hide it down their pants?”
