Reports : Steve Smith, David Warner may face one-year ban by Cricket Australia

The Australian skipper and Cameron Bancroft decided to attend a joint press conference after the video of the latter tampering the ball was captured by the television cameras. After the third day's play at Newlands, Bancroft stated that he had used yellow sticky tape to pick up granules from the pitch and rub them on the ball so as to alter its conditions to generate reverse swing and Smith also admitted that the idea was discussed among the "leadership group" including himself. The admission resulted in his IPL franchise Rajasthan Royals sacking him from the captaincy role and making Ajinkya Rahane the new captain.

However, it has now been reported that Smith might face a heavy one-year ban for his act and with him, vice-captain Warner may face a one-year ban as well. James Sutherland, Cricket Australia’s CEO, has flown to South Africa to understand the situation and he is expected to declare the investigation report.

The Cricket Australia internal investigation squad has been facing a lot of pressure from Australian Sports Commission and Australian media to take strict action against their skipper, who has been involved in such a shameful act. Smith was handed a one-Test suspension and fined his 100 % of the match fee by the International Cricket Council (ICC).

Earlier, the Guardian has also reported that coach Darren Lehmann may step down from the position despite Smith acknowledging that he didn’t have any role to play in the action.