Steve Smith says 2018 'sandpapergate' left him traumatised and still giving flashbacks

Steve Smith said he remains traumatised by the 'sandpapergate' ball-tampering scandal on Australia's 2018 tour of South Africa and continues to experience flashbacks.

The incident centred on Cameron Bancroft being caught rubbing the ball with sandpaper during South Africa's second innings of the third Test, after which Bancroft admitted he had attempted to alter the condition of the ball and Smith later acknowledged he knew about it. Smith was stripped of the captaincy and banned for a year by Cricket Australia, vice-captain David Warner was also banned for a year and Bancroft received a nine-month ban; Australia's then prime minister Malcolm Turnbull said the affair "bitterly disappointed the whole nation." The trio were sent home before the fourth and final Test of that tour, and Smith broke down in tears as he apologised during a news conference at Sydney airport.

"I'm not a big fan of cameras, I get anxious around cameras," he said in an interview with News Corp,, external published on Thursday. He told the same outlet that the initial days after the sanctions were particularly traumatic and that visual reminders can still trigger him.

Reflecting on his experience at Johannesburg airport, Smith said: "The 24-48 hours after being told by James Sutherland (then Cricket Australia chief executive) that I was getting banned for a year, going through the airport in Johannesburg getting absolutely mobbed, and then flying back and doing that press conference... I still have little flashbacks here and there of it. "I felt like I was kind of thrown to the wolves through [Johannesburg] airport. I didn't have any support there at all."

The 37-year-old returned to the Australia team in 2019 and, according to the report, re-established himself as one of the best batters in world cricket. After a two-year leadership ban he was named Australia's Test vice-captain before the 2021-22 Ashes series and has stood in as captain when Pat Cummins has been unavailable.

Smith said the period immediately after the scandal affected his mental state: "It was certainly a difficult period, particularly the initial few days after," Smith said. "The mental state I was in was not great. "That's somewhere I'd like not to get to again, but I certainly learned from that and have been able to move forward with my life. "I've tried to kind of erase a lot of 2018 and what happened," he added. "I can't remember a lot about the series. I've tried to block most of it out of my memory bank."

He has since returned to South Africa for a one-day series in 2020 and has experienced hostile crowds on multiple Ashes tours to England. "It's something I'm kind of used to, Smith said. "I've copped a lot at times away from home, at different venues across my career, and it's something that I take in my own stride. "I use it as motivation to try and go out and do well, and try and take a positive from it."

Australia's three-Test series in South Africa begins in Durban on 9 October.