Darren Lehmann to announce resignation as Australia coach as board considers 12-month bans for Steve Smith and David Warner

Darren Lehmann is expected to announce his resignation as head coach of Australia in the next 24 hours, becoming the first casualty of the ball-tampering scandal.

Sources in Australia have told Telegraph Sport Lehmann is ready to stand down with immediate effect and his decision is partly why James Sutherland, the chief executive of Cricket Australia, suddenly announced on Monday that he is flying to South Africa.

Sutherland is due to meet the players and coaching staff in Johannesburg on Tuesday with a press conference expected that evening when announcements about Lehmann and action against Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are likely to be announced. Smith and Warner are thought to be facing the prospect of 12-month suspensions from the sport. 

Lehmann, who has been head coach for five years, winning two Ashes series and a World Cup, has not spoken publicly since the ball-tampering scandal erupted on Saturday.

But as head coach he will have to take full responsibility for what happened on his watch, even if he was not directly involved in the decision. Lehmann, as coach, is accountable for the culture within the team and has presided over a side happy to agree to pre-meditated cheating. There are also few left who believe Smith’s explanation that Saturday’s incident was a one-off.

Australia have also pushed the boundaries in terms of on-field abuse under Lehmann and cleaning up the side will have to include changes to the top of the management structure. Lehmann announced last year that he will be stepping down anyway after the 2019 Ashes tour.

Lehmann was appointed in the aftermath of the 'homeworkgate' row which led to four players being suspended on a tour of India for failing to give coach Mickey Arthur feedback on how the team could improve. Arthur’s reputation never recovered and he was sacked during the 2013 Ashes tour of England. Lehmann was brought in to bring a harder edge to the side and a return to so-called Australian values. Those values have been shattered by what happened in Cape Town.

Smith and Warner are facing the likelihood of year-long suspensions by Cricket Australia that will also cost them millions of pounds in IPL earnings. Cricket Australia are under intense pressure to make examples of the two leaders in the team and suspending them from international duty, but allowing them make money in the IPL would send a terrible message.

Smith and Warner are the highest paid Australian cricketers in the IPL. Both were retained by their franchises before January’s auction on deals worth £1.1m. Warner plays for the Sunrisers Hyderabad and has twice been the leading scorer in the IPL which has rocketed his value.

Cricket Australia has been told to act swiftly and decisively by the Prime Minister of Australia, Malcolm Turnbull, and are facing the prospect of losing sponsors. The board is also at a delicate stage of negotiating its broadcast deals and cannot afford to have its position in those talks weakened by failing to act in the most shocking case of team discipline in the modern history of the Australian side. 

Until Saturday afternoon in Cape Town Smith was the golden boy of Australian cricket, billed as the new Don Bradman and poised to captain the side for years. But his world has been shattered. His reputation is in tatters. A serious form of punishment will have to include suspension from a home Australian summer. India are due to Australia this winter.

Cricket Australia has broad sanctions at its disposal under the terms of its central contracts with the Australian players and is currently investigating what exactly happened in the dressing room at Newlands before Bancroft went out on the field in the afternoon session with sticky tape in his pocket and attempted to change the condition of the ball.

The big decision for Cricket Australia is deciding the level of culpability. Does it punish players for simply knowing what was going on? That could lead to fines or suspensions for many others beyond the trio currently in the spotlight.

It could be a suspension for all team members participating in the plot and that is likely to be Starc and Hazelwood as well.   After all they are the players who had to execute the second part of the plot through their bowling,

The other problem is that the swing bowling and reverse swing after 30 overs as mentioned below in another thread  may also have an impact.   I mentioned that Fanie and probably other experts got suspicious about what  happened in Durban and Port Elizabeth and that blew the whole plotted system wide open  when they requested the cameramen to follow the ball and see what happens.

Then we have the case of the Rabada incident where the Aussie and SA cricket management would have a full report of what actually happened and what was given as evidence resulting from the contribution made by the SA legal representative.

All-in-all the report quoted is likely correct and I in fact believe that the following may happen and be announced later today on the following basis:-

*   Lehman to announce his resignation with immediate effect as coach today

*   Smith and Warner to be suspended for a year from playing all forms of cricket

*   Starc and Hazelwood to be suspended for 6 months from playing in all forms of cricket

*   Paine being appointed as temporary captain for the game on Friday and a formal announcement as to a new captain and vice captain  to follow within the next two to three months

*   That three or four replacement players be flown in on Wednesday to get a full squad in place to play in the test on Friday.

Should the above be announced it would cost the 4 players mentioned millions -

*   they would have earned in the IPL this year;

*   loss of their salaries for the period of their suspension;

*   in the case of Smith and Warner the loss of the higher salaries they would have earned if they remained as captain and vice-captain; and 

*   sponsorship deals private companies have with the individual players,

The above would to my mind be a lot over the top - but the reputational damage would be massive outside and even inside of Australia if drastic action is not taken.     

Duplication.   

The following from News24:-

"The embattled Australian cricket team have made their first call for reinforcements ahead of the fourth and final Test against the Proteas at the Wanderers.

READ: How SuperSport's cameramen caught Bancroft red-handed

With skipper Steve Smith banned from the decider and widespread reports that opener David Warner will join him on the sidelines, the selectors have called up Matt Renshaw, who will fly to South Africa on Tuesday night to join the squad reeling under the backlash of the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the third Test at Newlands last weekend.

Left-hander Renshaw, who will turn 22 on Wednesday, has played 10 Tests for Australia with an average of 36.64 and a highest score of 184.

Australia are expected to call up further players once Cricket Australia (CA) has finalised their inquiry into the scandal that rocked the cricketing world.

How can CA ban them from the IPL?

Draad