Smith, Warner, Bancroft to return to Australia; Lehmann to continue as coach

Bengaluru, March 27: Cricket Australia has narrowed down the guilty to three players - Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft - in the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal and said they will leave South Africa immediately.

In a press do conducted by its CEO James Sutherland in Johannesburg on late Tuesday (March 27) CA has also announced replacements for the aforementioned players - Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns and Glenn Maxwell and they will reach Johannesburg ahead of the fourth Test beginning on Friday.

SMITH STEPS DOWN" title="MATES UP AGAINST WARNER | SMITH STEPS DOWN" />MATES UP AGAINST WARNER | SMITH STEPS DOWN

However, the CA made it clear that coach Darren Lehmann will continue in his post much against the rumours otherwise while wicketkeeper Tim Paine will continue to lead the side.

FULL TEXT of CA Release

Sutherland said the quantum of punishment for the troika will be announced in the next 24 hours. ICC has already handed a one-Test ban to Smith besides docking his 100% match fee. Bancroft too was levied 75% of his match fee by the ICC.

Lehmann and Handscomb were obviously discussing whether it was to be the waterfront or Camps Bay for dinner. Farce. #SAvAUS #SandpaperGate

— Dileep Premachandran (@SpiceBoxofEarth) March 27, 2018

Extraordinary damage limitation in sending Smith, Warner and Bancroft home with Lehmann surviving. A leadership group of two? Working in isolation from the rest? Hmmm.

— Dean Wilson (@CricketMirror) March 27, 2018

The IPL future of Smith and Warner too looked bleak. "The IPL NOC could be withdrawn depends on the sanctions. We are yet to make a decision on that but when we make that it will be on the BCCI and the franchise," said Sutherland.

Smith has already stepped down as the captain of Rajasthan Royals while Sunrisers Hyderabad said they were waiting for the action to be taken by CA to have a decision on their skipper Warner.

I can’t believe for one minute that only three players knew what was going on...bowlers, coach and bowling coach weren’t involved in discussions of how to get the ball moving...whether it be by cheating or not! 🧐🤨 #sandpapergate

— Matt Prior (@MattPrior13) March 27, 2018

However, going by all indications, both Royals and Sunrisers will miss Smith and Warner as players as well.

The sanctions will be out tomorrow but Lehmann is very fortunate to survive. Astonishing that the conclusion is that only 2 people apart from Bancroft knew about it, not even the bowlers who would have been the beneficiaries.

— Mohammad Kaif (@MohammadKaif) March 27, 2018

Earlier, CA Head of Integrity Iain Roy probed all the figures involved in the ball tampering scandal, including captain Smith, vice-captain David Warner, Bancroft, coach Darren Lehmann and assistant coach David Saker.

However, the CA excluded both Lehmann and Saker from the ambit of the probe and zeroed in on the three players - Smith, Bancroft and Warner - as kingpins of the ball-tampering saga that rocked the cricket world.