South Africa's Interim Chief Urges Fans To 'Respect' Steven Smith, David Warner

Turning the clock back to a couple of years, the cricketing world has witnessed one of the worst scenarios ever to take place in the game of cricket. The then skipper Steven Smith, vice-captain David Warner and the young Cameron Bancroft were involved in ball-tampering, which led to their ban from the game by Cricket Australia (CA).

Following the ban, the two stars Warner and Smith made a scintillating return to the game by showing their class across the formats.

Now, they are all set to return to the place, where they lost their respect following the incident.

We have a very strict policy – Jacques Faul

Meanwhile, the interim chief executive Jacques Faul asks South Africa fans to respect the stalwart players. The duo was at the received end of booing from fans during the ICC World Cup and the high-voltage Ashes series against England last summer.

Steven Smith and David Warner will play in South Africa:

Faul, who stepped into the post in December after Thabang Moroe was suspended amid allegations of misconduct, warned fans they would be thrown out of the ground if they misbehaved.

“I would plead with South African fans to respect our opponents and don’t go overboard with these things (referring to Smith and Warner). It’s competitive on the field, and we don’t need it. Sport, in general, doesn’t need that behaviour. What happened last time the behaviour was unfortunate,” Faul told The Herald. 

“As much as we appreciate the support and you have to acknowledge the importance of people supporting these events I can only plead that people would treat players with respect. Stupidity comes very naturally to certain people. If someone misbehaves it’s very tough. We have a very strict policy in terms of fan behaviour and we will evacuate people but the damage will have been done,” he added.

Australia will play three T20Is, starting on February 21 and three ODIs during the tour. Currently, South Africa are involved in the series against England.

On the other hand, Australia would like to get over from the loss against India in January.

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