Melbourne: Former Australian coach Darren Lehmann, who stepped down from his position after the ball tampering incident involving Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith earlier this year said that Bancroft should have made the Australian coaching staff aware of being suggested to tamper the ball before he followed through on it.
Bancroft had revealed in an interview with Adam Gilchrist on Fox Sports that Warner had asked him to follow through on the tampering, but that ultimately, he took responsibility for it.
“Yeah he could’ve and should’ve (come to the coaches), I think he says that,” Lehmann told Macquarie Sport Radio.
“He should’ve come to us, at the end of the day it was a mistake — we know that. (It was) a severe mistake made by the guys and a lot of people have suffered one way or the other through that.
“We know it shouldn’t have happened, but it did.”
Bancroft was banned for nine months for carrying out the action of tampering the ball with a piece of sandpaper and for scruffing up one side of the ball in the third Test against South Africa at Cape Town.
Lehmann also spoke about Steve Smith’s involvement in the saga, saying, “Smith as captain, his disappointing thing that he spoke about was as captain of the country he should’ve had more control of it.
“Steven decided to turn a blind eye … I still can’t understand the pressures of captaining your country, it’s quite high you would think.”
On the other hand, speaking to ABC Grandstand, former Australian player David Hussey said that Bancroft should have stood up against what he was instructed to do.
“First Test, first Shield game or first club game, you’ve got to be able to stand up and say this is not within the rules of the game or be even strong and say we should not be doing this,” Hussey said.
