Ball tampering: Referee flagged up, du Plessis suspected foul play; updates

The ball-tampering scandal involving the then Australian cricket team captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft saw another revelation on Friday, with reports emerging that the foul play should have come as no surprise. According to an AFP report, a match referee had, way back in 2016, warned Smith and Warner of "being involved in a ball-tampering incident" in the domestic Sheffield Shield.

The report came after Smith and Warner were stripped of their captaincy and vice-captaincy of the Australian cricket team and banned for a year from the sport after being caught up in a plot to alter the condition of the ball on the third day of their team’s third test match against South Africa in Cape Town.

Daryl Harper said the pair were not engaging in fair play while representing New South Wales in a match against Victoria in November 2016, according to an email he sent to Cricket Australia's match referee and umpire selection manager Simon Taufel, the Sydney Morning Herald reported