“He should’ve come to us,” says Lehmann on Bancroft’s role in ball tampering

Lehmann on Bancroft’s role in ball tampering: Former Australian coach said that the opening batsman should have talked to the coaching staff.

Australia opening batsman Cameron Bancroft, who was involved in the infamous ball tampering saga happened in Cape Town earlier this year, disclosed in an interview to Fox Sports that his ambition to fit in and be valued in the Australian squad forced him to indulge in the activity which brought him a nine-month ban from Cricket Australia.

Bancroft’s interview to former Australia wicket-keeper batsman Adam Gilchrist was his first after being banned. Reacting to the same, former Australia Coach Darren Lehmann said that Bancroft should have talked about the same to the coaching staff as and when the idea of tampering with the ball was suggested to him.

“Yeah he could’ve and should’ve [come to the coaches], I think he says that,” Lehmann said. “He should’ve come to us, at the end of the day it was a mistake, we know that. [It was] a severe mistake made by the guys and a lot of people have suffered one way or the other through that. We know it shouldn’t have happened, but it did,” Lehmann further said.

Lehmann also criticized the then Australia captain Steve Smith for not having enough control of the situation. “Smith as captain, his disappointing thing that he spoke about was as captain of the country he should’ve had more control of it.

“Steven decided to turn a blind eye. I still can’t understand the pressures of captaining your country, it’s quite high you would think,” Lehmann added.

Expressing his views on the same, former Australian batsman David Hussey was quoted as saying to ABC Grandstand, “First Test, first Shield game or first club game, you’ve got to be able to stand up and say this is not within the rules of the game or be even strong and say we should not be doing this.”

With his ban been lifted now, Bancroft is eligible to play both domestic cricket and represent Australia at the highest level. Read some of the latest Twitter reactions on Bancroft below: