England's limited-overs captain Eoin Morgan believes cricket's reputation has been battered by the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal but hopes the sanctions imposed can help the game to move on.
Cricket Australia handed 12-month bans to sacked captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner, while Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months after being caught using sandpaper on the ball in the third Test against South Africa.
Warner on Thursday joined Smith and Bancroft in opting not to challenge the suspensions imposed for bringing the game into disrepute, meaning there would be no appeals.
Morgan said the severity of the punishments had sent a firm message to players that such tactics against the spirit of the game would not be tolerated.
"In the last two weeks, cricket has been battered and not for the right reasons," he told reporters.
"I'd like to think that the balance changed when the sanctions were imposed, because they were serious sanctions. You can see it and say it's wrong but to then back it up with such a sanction says a huge amount."
Morgan accepted there were some grey areas around the issue of ball-tampering but Cricket Australia's actions had made it clear that none of methods to scuff up the ball were acceptable.
"Throwing the ball in, one bounce, is fine ... but if you throw to the keeper from long-on or long-off, the umpires will monitor how often the ball hits the playing surface and tell you they'll change the ball if you do it again," he added.
"So, yes, there are grey areas but I think Cricket Australia have gone a long way to saying none of it is acceptable."
AAP
