Top Aussie official quits after ball-tampering report released

MELBOURNE - The ball-tampering affair last March in Cape Town has claimed another victim in Australian cricket.

Cricket Australia chairman David Peever announced his resignation on Thursday, three days after a report saying Cricket Australia was arrogant and bent on winning at all costs in a review of its culture and governance commissioned after the ball-tampering scandal in South Africa.

The board appointed Earl Eddings as interim chairman.

The review by Simon Longstaff of The Ethics Center, released on Monday, said administrators should bear as much blame as captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft, who were suspended for their roles in the incident at Cape Town in March.

The attempt by Bancroft to use sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball during the test match, with the knowledge of Smith and Warner, caused "grief" among the Australian public, Longstaff said.

CA had addressed some of its perceived shortcomings ahead of the review. Chief executive James Sutherland has left after 17 years and Pat Howard, the high-performance manager, has said he won't seek to extend his contract beyond mid-2019.

New Australia coach Justin Langer and captain Tim Paine are charged with changing the culture within the Australian team.

Langer earlier claimed there is a worldwide problem with ball-tampering, partly due to unresponsive pitches, while vowing it will never happen under his watch.

He said he was shocked when he learned players had taken sandpaper onto the field to deliberately alter the ball in the third Test in Cape Town.

But he said it was not an isolated issue.

"I can't understand for a single second how we took sandpaper out in the field. That doesn't make any sense to me," he told former teammate Adam Gilchrist in an interview for Fox Sports on Wednesday evening.

"What I do know though is that the issue with people ball-tampering is going on internationally. That's a real worry."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE