Summary Smith broke down during presser, accepting blame for cheating.
SYDNEY (AFP) - Distraught former Australian cricket captain Steve Smith accepted full responsibility Thursday for a ball-tampering scandal that has shaken the sport, breaking down in tears while denying it had ever happened before.
Cricket Australia have banned Smith and David Warner from all international and domestic cricket for a year while opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was exiled for nine months over attempted cheating during the third Test in South Africa
Smith, a golden boy compared to Donald Bradman for his batting exploits, was a broken man at an emotional press conference on his arrival back in Sydney from Johannesburg.
"I take full responsibility, I made a serious error of judgement and I understand the consequences. It was a failure of leadership," he said, choking back tears as he was comforted by his father Peter.
"I know I will regret this for the rest of my life. I am absolutely gutted. Cricket is my life and hope it can be again. I m sorry. I m absolutely devastated."
Smith s fall from grace has been dramatic, and fast.
He was jeered as he made his way through Johannesburg airport on Wednesday surrounded by police and media with concerns over his mental state in the current rabid climate and coach Darren Lehmann calling for all three men to be "given a second chance".
Former great Shane Warne, no stranger himself to controversy, offered the trio an olive branch despite days of a harsh and judgemental Australian public baying for blood.
"What the public wants to see is change. They want to see you be a better person," he wrote in a column for the Sydney Daily Telegraph. "They ll support you if they see that, and they ll forgive you."
Also read: David Warner apologises for bringing stain on the game
