Mitchell Starc clarifies comments on Steve Smith, Bancroft over ball-tampering saga

Sydney: Australia speedster Mitchell Starc has offered more clarity on the comments he made relating to Australia’s ball-tampering fiasco earlier, where he had criticised how Steve Smith handled the first press conference after the incident.

The left-arm pacer who is not included in Australia’s squad for the upcoming 5-match ODI series against England said that he continues to have faith in Smith and that his relationship with the national team was intact.

“Despite reports to the contrary, I continue to have the utmost respect for Steve Smith as captain, team-mate, and friend and I look forward to having him back in our great game soon. That goes for David and Cameron who have also been through an extremely tough time,” he told Cricket Australia.

The 27-year-old made the comments following reports that he had fired former Aussie skipper Smith and Cameron Bancroft for the press conference after the duo were caught on cameras trying to alternate the shape of the ball in the Cape Town Test against South Africa during March.

“Going back to what Sue (Cato, a public relations consultant) said before about being upfront and tackling a problem head-on, that’s something the group who decided to go into a press conference didn’t really think about. They obviously didn’t see how big the reaction was going to be at that time and then went down the path of not telling the whole truth and then I guess involving another group, which ruined – well, not ruined – but affected other reputations,” the bowler was quoted as saying.

Smith and his deputy David Warner were slapped with a one-year ban with Bancroft receiving a nine-month sanction. Smith and Warner were recently drafted in Canada’s Global T20 League and the lanky pacer said he was happy to see his teammates back.

“It is good to see all three guys planning to be back in cricket soon in different competitions around the world. I look forward to the opportunity to play alongside every one of my teammates from that tour again. We still have a long way to go in rebuilding the trust with the Australian public and I know personally, that I am 100% committed to doing that. Rebuilding trust and developing a positive reputation will take time and through our actions, we hope to demonstrate this to cricket fans everywhere,” Starc added.