Steve Smith returns to South Africa as Australia begin first Test series since 'sandpapergate'

Steve Smith has returned to South Africa as Australia start their first Test series there since the 2018 ball‑tampering incident known as ‘sandpapergate’. On the last tour in 2018 Smith was captain and played a role in using sandpaper to tamper with the ball; his vice‑captain David Warner was banned over the episode.

After serving his ban, Smith produced a notable comeback in England, scoring 144 and 142 in the Edgbaston Test amid relentless booing and hostility from the English crowd and finishing the series with 774 runs. In that same Ashes series Warner managed just 95 in 10 innings, being dismissed seven times by Stuart Broad, but later compiled an unbeaten 335, described in the column as the highest score by an Australian against Pakistan. Geoff Lemon, who wrote a book on the sandpaper story, is quoted: "Public opinion firmly settled on Warner being the criminal and Smith the innocent bystander."

The column notes Smith's standing in the game, writing: "Smith, who has the best average among players with over 10,000 Test runs (and for long averaged over 60, second only to Don Bradman), is a modern great," and argues that attention has focused more on how the episode affected him personally than on its impact on team or sport. Cricket writer Gideon Haigh is quoted saying: "What is extraordinary is how it was done and how easily it was agreed to by the team and how, not unapologetic, but sort of oblivious to the consequences Smith and Cameron Bancroft seemed to be at the press conference."

The piece recalls the press conference where Smith said, "I was thrown to the wolves," and criticises that admission given the column's account that Smith had asked Cameron Bancroft to undertake the tampering. The writer frames that episode as consistent with an entitlement and "win‑at‑all‑costs" mindset, which the column attributes to the environment created by the cricket board; it also records the author's earlier view that a life ban had initially been called for.

Reflecting on sport and punishment, the column states that cricket is an artificial construct that allows imposition of ideal rules of behaviour, and points to the inclusion of a "spirit of cricket" preamble to the laws as an indication that unwritten rules were being exploited. The article reports that many international cricketers considered the bans cruel, and that the so‑called "Australian way" bore some blame for the episode.

Trevor Chappell is quoted in full on the lasting stigma of controversy: "(Smith and the others) will struggle for the rest of their lives. I haven’t been able to shake off what happened to me in 37 years. I come up on Google as the man who took the lead role in Australian cricket’s darkest day. It’s a relief I can finally drop that title." The column uses Chappell’s words to ask who will relieve Smith and Warner of a similar burden.

Australia are in South Africa for their first Test series after the sandpapergate incident, and the column notes Smith’s earlier white‑ball return to South Africa drew a relatively mild reception. It concludes by saying that, despite that milder welcome, the crowds' ready jeer remains a recurring reminder of the episode and, the writer argues, "has been his real punishment."