Monitoring Desk
NEW DELHI: In a latest development to the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the cricketing world across the globe, Darren Lehmann announced on Thursday that he will step down from the post of Australia head coach after the fourth and final Test against South Africa to be played at Wanderers in Johannesburg starting Friday.
Lehmann was cleared of any wrongdoing by a Cricket Australia investigation after Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for one year while Cameron Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban. “As many who sit in this room will know, life on the road means a lot of time away from loved ones and after speaking to my family, it is the right time to step away,” Lehmann told mediapersons in a pre-match conference. “Speaking to the players and saying goodbye is the toughest thing I have had to do. It’s been happening for a few days and you think you can keep going but the amount of abuse just takes it toll. They made a mistake,” Lehmann said.
“This was entirely my decision. I have been speaking to the hierarchy in the last couple of days. Speaking to my family, they’ve had enough of traveling 300 days,” he added. After the third day’s play, while addressing the media at Newlands, Smith had admitted that his team had deliberately tried to tamper with the condition of the ball on Saturday in an orchestrated attempt to gain an advantage.
He also claimed that Lehmann was unaware of the plan, but TV cameras showed Lehmann looking at the giant screen at the ground and then covering his mouth while reaching for a walkie-talkie place next to him. The cameras then panned to Australia’s 12th man, Peter Hanscomb, who appeared to have received a signal. Hanscomb then entered the field and delivered a message to Cameron Bancroft, who subsequently hid the yellow object down his pants.
It was subsequently revealed that the words Lehmann uttered on the walkie-talkie to Hanscomb were to ask Bancroft “what the f… is going on” instead of telling him to hide the yellow piece of paper.
Lehmann, a colossus in Australian domestic cricket, took over the role of head coach of the Australian team from Mickey Arthur in June 2013 just weeks before the start of the Ashes. At the time, he had been in charge of the Australia A team that was touring the British Isles, and when announcing the news Sutherland had described him as “the obvious choice to come in and replace Mickey” and a man “very highly regarded with cricket circles and certainly within the Australian cricket team”.
