Join now and get your first month for just $1<\/a>.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m not a big fan of cameras \u2026 I get anxious around cameras to be honest,\u201d Smith told CODE Sports in an emotional video interview.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat was a traumatic experience in my life and when I hear the flash of a camera it makes me revisit that in a way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight years on, and there\u2019s one thing that continues to haunt Steve Smith from the Sandpapergate fallout. Picture: AFPSource: Getty Images<\/p>\n
Smith bore the brunt of a scandal that is considered one of Australian sport\u2019s darkest moments, with the ball tampering saga ruining reputations and earning widespread condemnation across sport and even from the Prime Minister at the time Malcolm Turnbull.<\/p>\n
Smith and vice captain David Warner were banned from cricket for a year and issued with leadership bans, while Cameron Bancroft – who was the fielder caught using sandpaper to rough up the ball to extract reverse swing – was given a nine-month suspension.<\/p>\n
Nobody has ever revealed if there were more members of the Australian Test team who knew of the sandpaper plot, with Cricket Australia\u2019s hurried investigation taking just two days to point the finger of blame squarely at the trio.<\/p>\n
Smith (C) was mobbed at the airport in Johannesburg – leaving lifelong mental scars for the champion Australian batsman. Picture: AFPSource: AFP<\/p>\n
They each flew home separately from the South African tour in disgrace, Smith fronting a tearful press conference at Sydney airport. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe 24-48 hours of being told by James Sutherland that I was getting banned for a year. That and going through the airport in Johannesburg getting absolutely mobbed, and then flying back and doing that press conference was my toughest moment,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Smith said he returns to South Africa for the Test tour – which starts in Durban on October 9 and will be broadcast exclusively on Kayo Sports – with excitement rather than fear.<\/p>\n
TO WATCH THE EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW GO TO CODESPORTS.COM.AU<\/a><\/p>\nZimbabwe v Australia 1st ODI Highlights | 16:30<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Australian captain Steve Smith says he is still traumatised and is triggered by camera shutters as he…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":894459,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[564],"tags":[64,63,740,85],"class_list":["post-894458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cricket","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-cricket","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=894458"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/894458\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/894459"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=894458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=894458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=894458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}