Australia coach pleads with fans to give trio second chance

Johannesburg: Australia head coach Darren Lehmann says he is worried about the fragile mental state of the players suspended over the ball-tampering scandal.

An emotional Lehmann, cleared of any wrongdoing by a Cricket Australia investigation, broke his silence on Wednesday, insisting the banned trio Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were “not bad people” and should be given a second chance.

He also said the team would need to improve their behaviour on and off the pitch to win back fan respect after Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball with sandpaper in the 322-run third Test defeat by South Africa.

“The players have made a grave mistake but they are not bad people,” Lehmann said.

“There is a human side to this. I hope people will give them a second chance. I worry about the three guys mentally.

“We know we have let so many people down. We are truly sorry. There is a need for us to change the way we play. We need to work to bring the respect back from the fans.”

“The first I saw of it was on that screen and I went straight on the walkie-talkie and said something to Peter Handscomb,” Lehmann explained.

“There were a couple of expletives in there. Then I spoke to some of the players at tea time and said we'd deal with it at the end of play, which obviously happened through the process.”

Lehmann added that he had no knowledge whatsoever of the plans, and he is “pretty confident” that this was the first time the side had illegally tampered with the ball. 

The 48-year-old acknowledged that Australian cricket needed to start fresh and build a new, transparent team culture that doesn’t push the boundaries.

“The team has been perceived quite negatively in recent times and there is a need for us to change some of the philosophies about the way and how we play,” he said.

“From this point forward, we need to work to earn the respect back from all our fans.”