SYDNEY
\nAustralian cricket chief Kevin Roberts insisted the return of Steve Smith and David Warner will not disrupt the resurgent team as a report on Friday revealed senior players threatened a boycott in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal.
\nOne-year bans slapped on the former captain and his deputy for their part in the scandal dubbed \u201cSandpaper-gate\u201d expired overnight and the pair are free to play at state and international level again.
\nWarner was widely seen as the instigator of the plot during the third Test in Cape Town last year to use sandpaper to alter the ball, with rookie opener Cameron Bancroft carrying it out and Smith turning a blind eye.
\nThe Sydney Morning Herald reported Friday that star bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon all intended to pull out of the fourth Test in South Africa if Warner was not removed from the team.
\nCiting multiple sources, it said, \u201cthe revelation highlights the extent of the fracture within the dressing-room in the immediate aftermath of one of the most damaging events in Australian cricket history\u201d.
\nSmith and Warner\u2019s reintegration process has already begun with the pair meeting the one-day team in Dubai this month. Lyon and Cummins were present, but the injured Starc and Hazlewood were not.
\nAsked whether relations had been patched up sufficiently for Warner\u2019s return not to be disruptive, Roberts compared the situation to any other workplace.
\n\u201cWhat we\u2019re focused on is doing everything we can to support Dave, Steve, Cameron and all of the other support staff with this integration… to build harmony rather than to disrupt the harmony that is building,\u201d he said at the Melbourne Press Club Thursday.
\n\u201cAt the same time, let\u2019s be open about it \u2014 in any workplace you don\u00b4t need to be best mates with everyone, but there needs to be a foundation of respect and I think there is growing respect there.\u201d
\nHe added that Smith, Warner, and Bancroft had all \u201cowned their mistakes, they\u00b4ve paid a price and have served their time\u201d.
\nThe \u201cSandpaper-gate\u201d scandal triggered far-reaching consequences for Australian cricket.
\nThen-coach Darren Lehmann quit and all the top brass from Cricket Australia left after a scathing review said their \u201carrogant and controlling\u201d win-at-all-costs culture was partly to blame for players bending the rules.
\n\u2018Bloody hard\u2019
\nReflecting on the past year, Roberts said, \u201cour highest priority now is rebuilding trust both within and around cricket\u201d.
\n\u201cWe\u2019ve seen tangible change at the board level, the executive level, we\u00b4ve got a new men\u00b4s coach and a relatively new men\u2019s Test captain.
\n\u201cThose are some of the tangible changes. But much more importantly the really important intangible change is that we are now very clear about what we stand for.
\n\u201cEverything we do now at Cricket Australia is about uniting and inspiring communities through cricket.\u201d
\nHe added that while Australian teams were determined to win, \u201cwe have a non-negotiable expectation that we compete with respect\u201d.
\nWhile it has been assumed that Smith and Warner will waltz back in for the World Cup, the team\u2019s form in recent weeks has given selectors a major headache.
\nAustralia\u2019s win over Pakistan on Wednesday was their sixth-straight one-day victory, sealing back-to-back series wins abroad for the first time since 2016 after also beating India.
\nSkipper Aaron Finch, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Peter Handscomb and Glenn Maxwell have all been in good nick at the top of the order.
\n\u201cIt is bloody hard,\u201d Finch admitted of World Cup selection. \u201cEspecially when the side is playing so well, it\u2019s going to be difficult.
\n\u201cAt the end of the day, they\u2019re the selectors and it\u00b4s an incredibly tough decision.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
SYDNEY Australian cricket chief Kevin Roberts insisted the return of Steve Smith and David Warner will not disrupt the resurgent team as a report on Friday revealed senior players threatened a boycott in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal. One-year bans slapped on the former captain and his deputy for their part in the scandal […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":56739,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-56724","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports"],"yoast_head":"\n