Cameron Bancroft and captain Steve Smith talk to media. Photo / Getty Images
Cameron Bancroft and captain Steve Smith talk to media. Photo / Getty Images
Australian cricket commentator Jim Maxwell has questioned the intelligence of the players involved in the ball-tampering saga in South Africa.
Speaking with Mark Watson on NewstalkZB's Weekend Sport, the ABC sports commentator said: "It's a lot darker than the underarm".
"At least that was legal, but this one was illegal,it was naive, there's so many things about this incident that make you wonder about the common sense, the intelligence, of those that are involved," he said.
Maxwell is speaking of the incident that saw Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft being caught on television tampering with the ball.
Bancroft was seen trying to scuff up the ball with tape that he had in his pocket - at one stage he was even approached by the umpires. Before they could talk to him, Bancroft hid the tape down his trousers.
Skipper Steve Smith was aware of the tampering, in fact, he with instigated it along with other members of the team's "leadership group".
Umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth confront Cameron Bancroft. Photo / Getty Images
"I'm sure there will be massive ramifications over this, it could easily cost Smith his captaincy.
"Australia is going to be branded cheats because of the way they've conducted themselves in this game and that's mud that sticks," Maxwell told Weekend Sport.
Smith's predecessor Michael Clarke shared his views of the incident on Channel Nine's Sports Sunday programme.
The former captain is sympathetic for Bancroft - the youngest in the team - who is only in his eighth test match and taking the fall for the senior players.
"I can't believe if the 'leadership group' has made a decision to do this," he said.
"That they've gone and got the young kid who's played his eighth test match to do that… as a leader, you can't ask somebody to do something you're not willing to do yourself."
Michael Clarke hasn't ruled out a return to cricket. Photo / Getty Images
When asked if he thought Smith should resign as captain or not, Clarke said he was too emotional to make a decision.
When the Australian cricket legend was asked if he would return to the side to take over the captaincy, Clarke didn't rule it out.
"If I was asked by the right people, then I would think about my answer," he said Sports Sunday.
Smith declared that he hadn't considered giving up the captaincy, claiming he was the best for the job in an interview after day three.
"I won't be considering stepping down. I still think I'm the right person for the job," Smith told reporters.
"Today was a big mistake on my behalf and on the leadership group's behalf as well.
"I take responsibility as the captain. I need to take control of the ship."
Following the ball-tampering crisis, the board of Cricket Australia (CA) have called an emergency meeting to work on a plan for dealing with the incident.
CA CEO James Sutherland is expected to address the media afterwards.
