Steve Smith steps down as Rajasthan Royals captain following Australian ball-tampering scandal

Steve Smith has stood down as captain of the Rajasthan Royals over the ball-tampering row, the Indian Premier League franchise have announced.

Skipper Smith admitted to cheating during the third Test with South Africa after Cameron Bancroft was spotted on TV cameras attempting to change the condition of the ball illegally.

The ICC have banned Smith from the fourth and final Test which starts on Friday, as well as fining him his entire match fee for the third Test with his IPL franchise now announcing their intention to replace him as skipper ahead of the new season.

"It’s in the best interest of the Rajasthan Royals that he steps down as captain so the team can get ready for the start of the IPL without the ongoing distractions,” head of cricket Zubin Bharucha said in a short statement. It was also announced that fellow batsman Ajinkya Rahane will replace him.

Many are now convinced his role as captain of the national team has become untenable with Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland set to arrive in South Africa on Tuesday "to determine recommended outcomes".

CA's head of integrity Iain Roy and Pat Howard, head of team performance, are due to land in Cape Town on Monday morning to begin an investigation into events during Saturday's play and Sutherland intends to discover exactly what happened "as a matter of urgency".

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The scandal has gripped the country with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull calling it “completely beyond belief” and “a shocking disappointment” while the Australian Sports Commission – the lead Government agency responsible for Australian sport – has called for Smith to be removed as captain immediately.

Bancroft was seen holding the ball when TV cameras caught him producing a flat bit of material – that he later confirmed was a strip of sticky tape – from his pocket, with slow-motion replays being shown both on TV coverage and on the big screen at Newlands, and Bancroft then put the tape into the front of his trousers in an attempt to hide it.

He said that it was his intention to use granules of dirt from the pitch on the sticky tape to try and roughen the dirty side of the ball, which would aid Australia’s seam bowlers in being able to reverse-swing it.

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Smith admitted afterwards that it was a decision taken by the “leadership group” within the team.

“The leadership group knew about it, we spoke about it at lunch,” he said. “I am not proud of what has happened. It’s not in the spirit of the game, my integrity and the integrity of the team has been damaged and rightfully so. It’s not on and it won’t happen again, I can promise you.”

But Smith – who was not joined at the press conference by coach Darren Lehmann – also insisted that he will not step down as captain.

“The coaches weren’t involved,” Smith added. “It was purely the players and the leadership group that came up with this.”

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To complete a miserable day, the embattled team lost the third test to South Africa in comprehensive fashion, as after South Africa seamer Morne Morkel ripped through the visitors' batting line-up to inflict a 322-run defeat.

Morkel picked up five wickets for 23 runs as the hosts took a 2-1 lead in the tempestuous four-match series.

Stand-in Australia captain Tim Paine, who was drafted in to lead the side after Smith and Warner stood down before the start of play on Sunday afterwards, afterwards apologised for the ball-tampering controversy that has overshadowed the test.

“It's been horrible 24 hours, difficult for all of us. I want to take this opportunity to apologise to our fans for what has happened,” he said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

“We are disappointed, too, with the way we folded in the last two hours of what was a really horrible test match," added Paine, whose side lost 10 wickets after tea on day four to lose the test.”