How Steve Smith’s ploy to shield Cameron Bancroft in ball-tampering row backfired

Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft admitted to ball-tampering in the Newlands Test but Moises Henriques has expressed doubts that there were any leadership meetings with senior players.

Australian all-rounder Moises Henriques has claimed he does not believe that there were any leadership meetings with senior players but it was completely Steve Smith’s decision to ask opener Cameron Bancroft to tamper the ball during the third Test against South Africa.

Steve Smith was banned for a Test and fined 100 percent of his match fee for admitting his role in ball-tampering during the Newlands Test against South Africa. (AFP)

Moises, who has played just four Tests and represented Australia in 11 T20Is and ODIs, said that the term could have been used by Smith to simply justify the act and take the blame off Bancroft, who was playing just his eighth Test.

Taking to Twitter, Henriques stated

Moises Henriques has suggested that there was never a senior meeting to discuss cheating. (Twitter)

He, however, clarified that he wasn’t of the opinion that no one knew of the act being on but simply that there wasn’t a meeting to simply discuss how the ball could be tampered.

Moises Henriques has said the theory of a ‘leadership group’ was Steve Smith’s attempt to protect Cameron Bancroft. (Twitter)

Steve Smith has been banned for a Test and has been fined 100 percent of his match fee. Bancroft was fined 75 per cent of his remuneration. Both players, however, had been slapped with three demerit points. Smith was also stripped of captaincy immediately while David Warner was removed as vice-captain.

Tim Paine donned the captain’s hat on the fourth day of the Newlands Test which Australia lost by 322 runs to trail the four-Test series 2-1 against South Africa.

In Pics: Australia’s cricket crisis: Anger, shame, revulsion over ball-tampering incident

On Monday, IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals, for whom Smith was supposed to represent in the upcoming edition of the Indian Premier League, stated that the Australian has stepped down from captaincy with Ajinkya Rahane taking his place.