On Sunday, Steven Smith, the former captain of Australian, has apologized to his teammates for copping a dissent charge during the Sheffield Shield game featuring New South Wales and Western Australia.
Following a ball-tampering scandal last year, Steven Smith and David Warner were found to be involved in the sandpaper gate scandal which made Cricket Australia undergo massive reforms about their players’ behavior. Following that they have earned only one demerit point in the year which was handed to Adam Zampa during the World Cup for an audible obscenity. However, in the new season, the instances have increased again. Recently the high profile Australian cricketer James Pattinson was ruled out from the squad. He was handed a one-match suspension.
At the national team’s ” values” meeting which takes place at the start of every major assignment Steven Smith said, “I came in and apologized to the group yesterday for getting a code of conduct, I don’t think there was a great deal in it but I’ve copped it and I have to look at when I get out and the way I sort of conduct myself. I know lots of kids watch me play and watch all of us play and the way we conduct ourselves when we get out as well as when we’re batting. So we have to be very mindful of that and sometimes just bite the bullet and just conduct ourselves in, I guess, a better manner at times. Sometimes your emotions can get the better of you out on the field. We’re playing a game [where] everyone is trying to do their best and sometimes that happens.”
He said, “When you get behind closed doors, go for your life, do what you need to do to let your frustrations out, Within reason – you probably don’t want to punch anything. Mitch Marsh can probably attest to that. We’re Australian players regardless of where we’re playing and what we’re doing. We sign up to values and in our contracts, we’ve got a code of conduct there we have to play by. I got pinged and so be it. I felt I should apologize for that.”
