Australia jeered on Day 4 post ball-tampering scandal

Cape Town [South Africa], March 25 (ANI): In the wake of a massive ball-tampering scandal, the Australian team, led by stand-in-skipper Tim Paine was greeted with jeer by crowd at the start of play here at the Newlands Cricket Ground.

Paine was appointed to lead the time after Steve Smith and David Warner agreed to step down as captain and vice-captain, respectively, for the remainder of the third Test against South Africa.

Chorus of boos was heard as the Australians were taking their places on the field on Day four.

Earlier, after the end of the Day Three on Saturday, both Smith and Cameron Bancroft admitted to charges of tampering the ball in the outfield using a yellow object.

"The leadership knew about it, we spoke about it at lunch. I'm not proud of what's happened, it's not within the spirit of the game," Smith was quoted as saying by the ESPNcricinfo.

"My integrity, the team's integrity, the leadership groups integrity has come into question and rightfully so. It's certainly not on and it won't happen again, I can promise you that under my leadership," he added.

The ball-tampering issue surfaced when a footage showed a small, yellow object in Bancroft's hands after he had worked on the ball. He was also captured taking it out from his pocket and seeming to place it down his trousers.

It showed Bancroft rubbing the rough side of the ball, the opposite side to which he would usually be trying to shine on his trousers, as is permitted under International Cricket Council (ICC) playing conditions, espncricinfo.com reported.

He appeared to put the object down his pants apparently after being spoken to by the substitute Peter Handscomb, who had come on to the field after speaking to coach Darren Lehmann over the walkie-talkie.

When Bancroft spoke to the umpires, he was shown holding a bigger, black cloth rather than the small yellow object he had earlier seemed to place down his trousers. (ANI)