Former Australia skipper Ricky Ponting said Thursday he was shocked by the ball-tampering scandal that has engulfed the national team but defended a culture he insisted sought to play “hard” and “fair”. Ponting, coach of the Delhi Daredevils IPL team, said talk of an over aggressive attitude in the Australian dressing room had been blown out of proportion following bans imposed on Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
“This is the first time I have actually answered a single question about what’s happened in South Africa over the last couple of weeks,” Ponting, Australia’s Test captain from 2004-2008, told.
“At the end of the day as a past player and as a former captain I was obviously quite shocked to see what actually took place out there on the field.
“The pleasing thing to me is that all this issue is starting to come to an end,” he said, referring to Smith and Warner’s acceptance of one year bans.
