Former Australian leaders Steve Smith and David Warner return to the shores of the Rainbow Nation, for the first time since the infamous ‘Sandpaper Gate’.
The two already announced their comeback into the international arena after Cricket Australia imposed a one-year ban on them.
Australia plays South Africa for a three-match T20I and ODI series starting February 21. Their last tour to the African nation was both heated and ill-fought, marred by various incidents, which ultimately led to the said scandal at Cape Town.
It all started at Durban in the first Test when South African wicketkeeper-batsman was at the crease. The left-hander received sledging throughout one of the sessions while batting.
On their way back to pavilion during Tea, Quinton de Kock and David Warner were having a go at each other at full throttle, as per footages revealed by the CCTV camera.
However, prior to the start of the limited-overs series, Warner mentioned about crossing paths with the-now-South Africa-captain.
“Obviously we’ll cross paths playing against each other. But I don’t have his number and I speak to a few of the South African guys but I’ve never played in the same team as him or anything like that,” Warner told The Guardian.
The two exchanged a lot of abusive language going at a personal level, involving family members. Many pundits from the cricketing world, including Michael Holding, condemned the incident at Kingsmead that afternoon.
“Obviously it’s a little bit different. I’m sure if I see him on the field and that, we’ll just treat each other how we normally would as respectful opponents,” the Australian opener added.
The first T20I between Australia and South Africa will be played at Johannesburg. The subsequent games will take place at Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.
