STEVE SMITH and David Warner should never be allowed to play cricket again following the ball-tampering scandal, according to Henry Blofeld.
The BBC TMS legend, 78, also suggested Cameron Bancroft and coach Darren Lehmann should be heavily punished for their roles in the embarrassment.
Australia admitted to ball-tampering following day three of the Third Test against South Africa after Bancroft was caught in the act.
Since then, captain Smith and vice-skipper Warner were stripped of their positions for the rest of the Test.
Smith was then slapped with a one-Test ban and fined 100 per cent of match fee by the ICC, while Bancroft was fined 75 per cent of fee, but escaped further punishment.
However, Blofeld is adamant an example needs to be made to strip the “cancer” from cricket.
Blowers took to Twitter to say: “Smith and Warner should never be allowed to play again.
“Lehmann must go and Bancroft… though he was presumably sucked in and to curry favour went along with it.
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“Like match-fixing, ball tampering is a cancer and those caught, must be completely cut out.
“Aussie PM’s reaction was spot on.”
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Earlier in the day, Australian prime minister Malcolm Turnbull all-but called for Smith’s sacking.
The PM claimed: “We all work up this morning shocked and bitterly disappointed by the news from South Africa.
“It seemed completely beyond belief that the Australian cricket team had been involved in cheating.
“After all, our cricketers are role models and cricket is synonymous with fair play.
“How can our team be engaged in cheating like this? It beggars belief.
“I’ve spoken with David Peever, the Chairman of Cricket Australia. He has said to me that Cricket Australia will be responding decisively, as they should.
“It’s their responsibility to deal with it, but I have to say that [to] the whole nation, who holds those who wear the Baggy Green up on a pedestal, about as high as you can get in Australia… this is a shocking disappointment.
“It’s wrong, and I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon.”
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