Steve Smith took blame on himself in order to save his teamates as entire Australian team was involved in ball-tampering.
These were the words by the former England all-rounder Andrew Flintoff about former Australian skipper Steve Smith about the ball-tampering saga that rocked cricket World in 2018.
Smith was suspended for a year along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft after being indicted in the sandpaper-gate during a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town.
“I can’t believe that the whole team isn’t in on it. As a bowler, if someone gives me a ball that’s been tampered with, I know initially. One of the things that Steve Smith did is take the blame for everyone else,” Flintoff was heard speaking on Talksport.
“Things like ball tampering have gone on for a long, long time and I think it’s just the degrees where you take it. We were accused of putting sweets on the ball. People put suncream on it, tried everything they can.”
Smith was also banned from taking any leadership roles for two years – a suspension which has now expired.
The England legend said it is difficult to believe that others in the team did not have a clue about what was going on.
“Sandpaper is wrong, but it’s stupid more than anything. But I can’t believe that everyone in the team wasn’t involved in some way or another,” said Flintoff, who took 400 wickets and scored over 7000 runs in his career.