Australia captain Smith banned 12 months for tampering plot

Johannesburg - Warner, too, has been banned for 12 months, while Bancroft has been handed a nine-month ban.

Australia captain Steve Smith has been banned from playing for his country for 12 months for his role in a ball tampering plot in the Test series in South Africa.
Smith is leaving the tour of South Africa in disgrace after being part of a plot to cheat in the third test. Smith and two other players, vice captain David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft, planned to cheat by illegally changing the condition of the ball with a piece of yellow adhesive tape and some dirt.
Warner steps down as Sunrisers Hyderabad skipper
Smith's ban will include all top-level cricket in Australia for the next year. David Warner, too, has been banned for 12 months, while Cameron Bancroft has been handed a nine-month ban.
Tim Paine will take over as captain of Australia for the final test in South Africa.
Smith, wearing a white T-shirt and dark baseball cap, hugged Paine as he prepared to leave the team hotel in Johannesburg to fly home on Wednesday.
Warner and Bancroft were also expected to receive lengthy bans and have also been expelled from the team. Cricket Australia said the trio will return home on Wednesday.
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Smith, Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft, the player caught on camera attempting to doctor the ball with a piece of tape, have been banished for their role in a ball-tampering incident which has dragged Australian cricket's reputation through the mud, but coach Darren Lehmann is to remain in charge.
Warner stepped down on Wednesday as captain of Indian Premier League side Sunrisers Hyderabad as reports emerged he had been ostracised by Australia's fast bowlers who feel he unfairly linked them to the row.
Smith had already been replaced as skipper of rival side Rajasthan Royals in the cash-rich Twenty20 competition due to start next month as the controversy rages on.
"In light of recent events, David Warner has stepped down as captain of Sunrisers Hyderabad," Sunrisers chief executive K. Shanmugam said on the team's official Twitter page.
Wicketkeeper Tim Paine will take over the captaincy for the fourth and final Test starting in Johannesburg Friday, with hosts South Africa leading a bad-tempered series 2-1 as Matt Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns fly to South Africa to replace the exiled trio.
Lehmann was not punished.