Australian cricketer and Hobart Hurricanes players Emily Smith has been punished for posting playing 11 squads before the official release before the start of the match via Instagram.
Although the match was washed out. It was scheduled to play between Hobart Hurricanes and Sydney Thunder on 2nd November. Cricket Australia imposed a one-year ban on the Hobart Hurricanes wicket-keeper, with nine months suspension.
In a statement on Monday evening, CA said Smith had accepted the sanction for breaching the anti-corruption code which prohibits disclosing inside information to any person. As part of the consequences, Smith will be unable to participate in any form of cricket for at least three months, ruling the 24-year-old out of the rest of this season’s WBBL and WNCL competitions. She has been featured in 43 WBBL matches.
“The context is important, it’s really a comedy of errors,” Nicholson told SEN.
“Officials are supposed to take away the players’ phones. You had a game here where there was rain-delay, and it was on ice, so the player had their phone when the system shouldn’t have let her have it” Adding- “It’s heavy-handed but the reality is she was a position she shouldn’t have been in. From our point of view, whilst corruption and integrity is very important and Emily has accepted the sanction – it should have been fully suspended.”
Nicholson said the extensive ban has thrown Victoria-born Smith’s life upside down. “It’s certainly been a real shock for her, it’s a scenario that she wasn’t expecting and she’s basically probably have to move her life back to Victoria. That’s a real change,” he said. Article 2.3.2 of the code prohibits: “Disclosing inside information to any person (with or without reward) where the participant knew or might reasonably have known that such disclosure might lead to the information being used in relation to betting in relation to any match or event.”
“[However] CA’s rigorous anti-corruption player education program means that players are well aware of their obligations under the anti-corruption code and there is no excuse for breaches regardless of the reasons for information being disclosed,” said Sean Carroll, CA head of integrity and security.
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