SYDNEY, Australia — Cricket Australia’s test match naming rights sponsor has pulled out of its deal after less than a year and other companies also severed ties with players involved in the ball-tampering scandal. Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were each banned for 12 months on Wednesday after an investigation into the attempted ball tampering. Cricket Australia said Warner “instructed” young batsman Cameron Bancroft how to carry out the tampering on the field with a piece of sandpaper. Smith and Warner were banned from playing for Australia, or any high-level cricket in Australia, for a year. Sporting goods company ASICS scrapped sponsorship deals Warner and Bancroft.

Source: National Post March 29, 2018 01:49 UTC