What Steve Smith, David Warner Did Was Stupid And ridiculous, Says Shane Watson

Shane Watson believes it was stupid and ridiculous on part of Steve Smith and David Warner for their roles in the infamous ball-tampering row in Cape Town. At the same time, the former Australia allrounder stated that the bans imposed on the players could have been less.

Speaking on the sets of ‘Bhajji Blast’, a show started by Watson’s Chennai Super Kings teammate Harbhajan Singh, Watson gave his views on the whole incident which rocked Australian cricket.

Cameron Bancroft was sensationally caught applying sandpaper on the ball to change its state, and the repercussions soon followed. The scandal brought wholesome changes in Australian cricket. ICC banned skipper Steven Smith for one match before Cricket Australia dealt with the matter separately.

It banned Smith and his deputy David Warner for a year and handed Bancroft a nine-month ban. Not only that, Darren Lehmann also stepped down as head coach for the same reason. Early this week, James Sutherland resigned as Cricket Australia’s chief executive.

“Do you agree to what happened to Steve Smith and David Warner. They got banned for a year… which I feel was way too much,” Harbhajan asked.

In reply, Watson said: “Yeah… look, in the end, there’s no question of what they did was very stupid. It was ridiculous. To think that you would take a foreign object onto the ground to be able to change the condition of the ball is ridiculous.”

Watson further said it was “bad decision-making” and must have been done “under pressure”.

“Like that’s… and also getting a young guy to do it is… yeah. Obviously, that was just under pressure, bad decision-making. There’s no question about that. But then what happened after that with our Prime Minister of Australia commenting about it… And so many other people… In the end, it became hysterical in Australia,” he opined.

The allrounder, who scored a century in the IPL final, said that the the trio paid a hefty fine for their mistakes.

“And then the general public were just going crazy over it. It’s so sad because as soon as Steve Smith… I know these guys were very remorseful about what they did. Because I know that man and everyone makes mistakes. Some are just bigger than others. You know some are more public than others.

“As soon as everyone could see how upset they were that they made a mistake, the Australian public changed straight away and said: Actually everyone does make mistakes. So… and then if that was the sentiment that everyone had when Cricket Australia are making the decision of how long the ban was…

“I’ve got no doubt that the actual ban would have been a lot less. Not because CA made it when everyone’s in a frigging feeding frenzy. They made it very emotionally. And 12 months is a long time,” Watson said.

Meanwhile, Smith and Warner are all set to return to competitive cricket. The duo will make their comeback at the Global T20 Canada League after being picked by Winnipeg Hawks in the player draft. On the other hand, Bancroft will return to action during Darwin Strike League in July.