With Darren Lehmann likely to speak publicly on Wednesday - for the first time since the ball-tampering scandal broke - former Australia captain Allan Border has thrown his support behind the under-fire coach.
An investigation led by Cricket Australia's head of integrity, Iain Roy, had found that Lehmann had been unaware of plans made on the third day of the Cape Town Test to generate reverse swing by tampering with the ball. CA's chief executive James Sutherland told reporters on Tuesday that only the captain Steven Smith, the vice-captain David Warner and opener Cameron Bancroft, who was eventually caught on camera roughing up the ball with a foreign object, had been involved in the plan and that all of them have been ordered to leave South Africa.
"If [the] integrity officer has been through and interviewed people and he's satisfied that Darren Lehmann didn't know specifically what was going on at the time, I'm very relaxed," Border told Fox Sports. "That's a good news item, isn't it, not the other way.
"We're talking about one of the good guys in Australian cricket," he continued. "He's done a fantastic job with that team and if he wasn't aware of what was going on, there's no problem at all."
However, another former Australia captain, Michael Clarke, felt the "full story" was yet to come out, while England's Michael Vaughan and Kevin Pietersen were not convinced by the CA investigation that cleared Lehmann of wrongdoing.
The truth, The full story, Accountability and Leadership- until the public get this Australian cricket is in deep shit!
— Michael Clarke (@MClarke23) March 27, 2018
Lehmann never knew -
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 27, 2018
Only 3 people knew ........ #MyArse
— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) March 27, 2018
When the incident occurred at Newlands on Saturday, Lehmann was seen with his walkie-talkie seemingly speaking to 12th man Peter Handscomb soon after footage of Bancroft using yellow sticky tape to scuff up the rough side of the ball - the opposite side that a player usually shines - was shown on TV screens around the ground. Handscomb then went on to the field to have a chat with Bancroft, who later shoved the tape down his trousers, prompting scrutiny from match officials. At the post-day press conference, Smith and Bancroft admitted to ball-tampering, leading to sanctions from the ICC and CA, pressure from the Australian government and widespread public outrage.