Steve Smith and David Warner are free to play state and international level cricket again after the year-long bans came to an end. Australian cricket chief Kevin Roberts has said Steve Smith and David Warner have “paid a price and served their time”.
Amid reports that senior Australian players threatened a boycott after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa, Robersts insisted that the return of Steve Smith and David Warner will not disrupt the resurgent team following the expiration of the bans slapped on them.
Warner was widely seen as the instigator of the plot during the third Test in Cape Town last year to use sandpaper to alter the ball, with rookie opener Cameron Bancroft carrying it out and Smith turning a blind eye.
Asked whether relations had been patched up sufficiently for Warner’s return not to be disruptive, Roberts compared the situation to any other workplace.
“What we’re focused on is doing everything we can to support Dave, Steve, Cameron and all of the other support staff with this integration… to build harmony rather than to disrupt the harmony that is building,” he said at the Melbourne Press Club Thursday.
“At the same time, let’s be open about it — in any workplace you don’t need to be best mates with everyone, but there needs to be a foundation of respect and I think there is growing respect there.”
