10 images that defined cricket in 2018

#2 The shocking ball-tampering fiasco

Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft confront against the media as they accept their roles in Ball-tampering fiasco

Australia were having a good run in early 2018, defeating England in the Ashes and so on, before they toured South Africa in March. They even won the Test in Durban, but the series will forever be remembered for an entirely different reason.

In Cape Town, TV cameras picked up Cameron Bancroft rubbing the ball using sandpaper, and in the next couple of days himself, along with team leads Steven Smith the captain, David Warner the deputy, and Darren Lehmann the coach were held accountable for tampering with the ball.

The players were handed bans that would last a whole year, and Lehmann had to resign.

The scam had severe repercussions, Australia not having won a single series afterwards in the absence of their biggest stars, and the issue also cast a deep shadow into the careers of Smith and Warner. They will return to competitive international cricket only next April.