Steve Smith: Sandpaper Scandal Still Haunts Me

Steve Smith says he still gets flashbacks to the days after the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, and describes feeling abandoned as he left South Africa in disgrace.

Smith, 37, and vice-captain David Warner were banned for a year each over the Cape Town affair, while Cameron Bancroft, caught scratching the ball with sandpaper, was suspended for nine months as the junior member of the group. Australia return to South Africa next month for their first Test tour there since that trip.

Smith told CODE Sports: "I'm not a big fan of cameras, I get anxious around cameras. That was a traumatic experience in my life and when I hear the flash of a camera it makes me revisit that, in a way. The 24-48 hours after being told by (former Cricket Australia chief executive) James Sutherland that I was getting banned for a year, going through the airport in Johannesburg getting absolutely mobbed, and then flying back and doing that press conference…I still have little flashbacks here and there of it. I felt like I was kind of thrown to the wolves through (Johannesburg) airport. I didn't have any support there at all. It was certainly a difficult period, particularly the initial few days after. The mental state I was in was not great. I certainly learned from that and have been able to move forward with"

Smith has since been restored to leadership duties as Australia's stand-in captain when Pat Cummins is unavailable. The tour that follows next month will put him back in the country where the scandal unfolded eight years ago.