An emotional Darren Lehmann has quit as Australian test cricket coach, saying that watching distraught Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft face the media had prompted him to step down.
Although reiterating that he knew nothing of the ball-tampering plan, Lehmann said he felt Australian cricket needed to move forward and that he hoped his decision would end the abuse his family was receiving from members of the public.
“I really felt for Steve as I saw him crying in front of the media, and all the players are really hurting,” Lehmann said, adding that he had barely slept since the scandal broke at the weekend. “As I stated before, I had no prior knowledge of the incident and don’t condone what happened at all. But good people can make mistakes.
“My family and I have copped a lot of abuse over the last week and it’s taken its toll on them.”
The men directly involved in the incident – team captain Smith, Bancroft and vice-captain David Warner – were confronted by a seething crowd at Sydney airport yesterday when they arrived back in the country from South Africa, having been sent home in disgrace after being caught tampering with the ball.
And on Thursday night Smith gave a tearful press conference, in which he apologised to his family and to fans of the game. “You’re affecting your parents and to think the way my old man’s been … and my mum, it hurts” he said.
Smith said he took full responsibility for the decision to alter the condition of the ball, even though an investigation by Australian Cricket named Warner as the instigator of the cheating.
Bancroft also fronted a press conference on Thursday, in which he appeared near tears as he admitted that he had intentionally used a piece of sandpaper to attempt to alter the ball.
Smith’s apology was in contrast with the statement released on social media by Warner on Thursday, which said only that “mistakes have been made which damaged cricket”.
“I apologise for my part and take responsibility for it,” he wrote.
Lehmann will remain in place for the fourth test against South Africa before leaving his role. Smith and Warner have been handed 12-month bans from international cricket and Bancroft a nine-month ban.
The players’ actions – which Cricket Australia said breached article 2.3.5 of its code of conduct because they were contrary to the spirit of the game and brought the game into disrepute – caused outcry in Australia, which prides itself on being a sportsmanlike nation.