Shane Warne, Steven Smith
Shane Warne. (Photo by William WEST / AFP)

Ever Since the ball-tampering row took place, life has become pretty tough for Cricket Australia. They are finding it hard to get back on the victory course, as none of the players has replaced the quality of Steven Smith and David Warner. Meanwhile, the former great, Shane Warne raised his voice on the discarded cricketers.

The leg-spinner feels the punishment handed to Warner and Smith are pretty harsh. Further, he also pointed out that the people in Australia are pretty quick in hanging people and nail them.

“I will say this about Steve Smith as captain of the side,” Warne told ABC television. ”Steve Smith is a good person. He made a silly mistake, an error in judgment. I think in this country we’re too quick to hang people and just nail them,” he added.

Ball-tampering rpw, Steven Smith, Shane Warne
Steven Smith (Photo by Brook Mitchell/Getty Images)Steven

Steven Smith is a good guy – Shane Warne

Further, the flamboyant cricketer highlighted work ethics of Steven Smith and his excellent skills in leading the team. He also added ball-tampering was an error of judgement on the Smith’s part.

“We cry out for characters but then we cut people off so quickly. And Steve Smith, to me, is a good guy. He’s a wonderful captain, he’s a great player. He just made a silly mistake and I don’t think the punishment fitted the crime. A 12-month ban for that? It equated to about an $8-10 million fine. I thought they were very, very, very hard done by and it was a very harsh penalty,” he added.

Shnae Warne, David Warner, Steven Smith
David Warner-Steven Smith (Photo by Jason McCawley – CA/Cricket Australia/Getty Images)

“All of us as Australians were disappointed, we were embarrassed and I think the wider cricket community thought: ‘Australians don’t do that. That’s not the way Australians play their sport. They play it hard, they play it tough. They’re uncompromising but they’re fair. Always been fair’,” Warne said.

However, as Shane Warne termed, the 12-month ban seems to be pretty harsh on the players. It would be interesting to see whether Cricket Australia will give the players a direct entry or ask them to play in the domestic circuit.

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