Resurgence Of Sandpaper Gate Has Weakened Steve Smith's Case Of Becoming Captain: Mark Taylor

Former Australian captain Mark Taylor believes that the resurgence of the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal has weakened Steve Smith’s case of once again leading the Australian cricket team.

Steve Smith, who led Australia across all formats following the retirement of Michael Clarke in 2015, was stripped of the leadership duties post his involvement In the ball-tampering scandal that rocked Australian cricketer to the hilt back in 2018.

Smith, alongside David Warner, was handed a 12-month ban from international cricket and a further 12-month suspension from leadership duties.

Three years post the shambles of Newlands, the case for Steve Smith being once again reinstated as Australian captain was gathering steam but with Cameron Bancroft opening a cannon of worms in a bombshell interview with a UK tabloid, Mark Taylor believes that Smith’s chances of once again leading the team have been jeopardized.

”It doesn’t help. No doubt about it, it doesn’t help his case, because he, like I’m sure most people involved in the game would like this just to go away; which it won’t go away,” Mark Taylor said on Sports Sunday.

”There’s no doubt there’s a growing momentum around Steve Smith being a potential captain, no doubt about that.” he further added.

Mark Taylor comes out in support of the Australian bowlers and Cricket Australia

Mark Taylor also went on to defend the Australian bowlers- Jos Hazlewood, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, and Nathan Lyon- after the quartet recently denied having any role in the ball-tampering scandal.

He also defended the investigation that Cricket Australia had carried out in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

”The question about whether Cricket Australia did enough three years ago, the answer to that is yes,” Mark Taylor added.

”I think we had a four-day window between the end of the Cape Town Test and the start of the fourth Test, which was at Johannesburg, to send someone over, do an investigation, make a report and then make some decisions around that. That was obviously to send the three players home and to deal with it then,” he added.

“Yes, in an absolute ideal situation, of course not; it would have been great to have six months to do all this. But we had a four-day window, and I think in that time, we got it right.” signed off Mark Taylor.

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