Steve Smith was visibly shattered as he gave a press conference to media at Sydney airport on Thursday about his role in the Australian cricket team’s ball-tampering scandal.
The 28-year-old fought back tears as he read a prepared statement, apologising to the nation and his family, before answering questions from reporters for the first time since receiving a 12-month suspension from international and domestic cricket.
It was an emotional scene that saw many take to social media to say enough is enough, it’s time to move on.
Channel Nine presenter Deborah Knight, too, decided to share her thoughts on the saga. She tweeted about having to console her nine-year-old son, Darcy — a “major Steve Smith fan” — who was heartbroken following the press conference.
“Just spent 20 minutes consoling my crying 9 year old who is a major Steve Smith fan after he watched the press conference,” she wrote on Twitter.
“Encouraging him and all kids to write Steve a letter telling him how much you love and admire him.”
Not long after, the cricketer reached out to the journo personally in a move that has been described as “all class.” He sent a direct message asking her to apologise to Darcy on his behalf.
“Could you please apologise personally to your son from me. Sorry that I made him upset also,” the message from Steve read.
In response Deb wrote back: “Thanks you so much for making contact Steve. My son wants you to know he admires you even more than he did.”
Following the exchange, Deborah echoed the feelings of many as she applauded Steve’s handling of the situation.
“You saw in the press conference yesterday, it was that question about the impact on young children that saw him (Steve) choke up,” she told News.com.au.
“At heart he is a kid who’s played cricket all his life and he himself obviously has his own idols so he knows full well that kids around the country look up to him and he’s disappointed in himself.”
“The fact he’s reaching out to people directly speaks volumes.”
“Darcy is a kid who loves cricket and there are millions of kids around the country who love cricket and idolise Steve Smith and I think if he could he would directly respond to all of them.”
She added: “We think he’ll learn from this mistake and he’ll emerge a better person in the long run because it’s how you deal with hardship that is the making of a person and he’s handling this admirably.”
David Warner, who was also banned from international and domestic cricket for a year by Cricket Australia for his role in the ball-tampering scandal, is expected to give a press conference on Saturday.
Cameron Bancroft, the young batsman applied sandpaper to the ball before hiding the sandpaper in his trousers, was banned for nine months. He fronted the media on Thursday night.
