Former England batter Chris Broad believes Darren Lehmann got away very lightly with the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town, adding that the then Australia head coach either knew what his players were planning in Cape Town or had no business being in charge of the team.
Broad, who served as an ICC match referee for many years, pointed out that Lehmann faced no sanctions over the episode, unlike Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who got banned. He also accused the former coach of hypocrisy, recalling the harsh words Lehmann directed at his son, ex-England fast bowler Stuart Broad, during the 2013 Ashes.
“There he was taking the moral high ground against my son. I’m very angry at Darren Lehmann. Darren Lehmann surely knew all about it (ball tampering), and if he didn’t, he shouldn’t have been the coach at the time.
“Darren Lehmann surely knew all about it. And if he didn’t, he shouldn’t have been the coach at the time. I think he’s got away lightly…OK, he left his job a few months later, but he didn’t get any sanctions,” Broad was quoted as saying by Fox Sports to Track Radio.
Broad’s comments come after ex-Australia Test opener Usman Khawaja talked about the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal in his newly-launched autobiography Sabr. Former Australia opener David Warner had previously backed Khawaja’s recounting of the ball-tampering scandal, and the claim that the entire team knew about the plan to tamper with the ball, as being ‘100 per cent’ accurate.
“And there he was in 2013, taking the moral high ground against my son, where he played the Australian game of nicking the ball and waiting for the umpire to give him out, and he got given not out on that occasion, and then came out in the media saying ‘we’re going to make him cry when he comes to Australia next.’
“And here he is, the coach of the Australian cricket team that brought sandpaper out onto the field of play and denied any knowledge of this happening. I’m very angry at Darren Lehmann in this respect,” added Broad.
