Six players from Australia’s 2018 tour are back in the squad for three Tests in South Africa starting October 9. It is Australia’s first Test series in the country since Cameron Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball at Newlands. Former Proteas captain Graeme Smith has a blunt message for the visitors.
“I can guarantee you, if we were going to Australia, you wouldn’t be off the plane yet, and you’d be getting reminded about something like that.”
Graeme Smith, TimesLive interview, September 12, 2026
“They mustn’t come here and not expect to be asked about that. It’s part of their history. It is relevant because it happened the last time they were here. If they’re smart, they will have a plan for it. It’s not something they can hide away from.”
Graeme Smith, IOL exclusive interview, September 2026
Eight years have passed. The bans were served. The careers resumed. But for Steve Smith, whose form has already raised questions about his future beyond this cycle, the scars are specific.
In a CODE Sports interview published this week, the former captain admitted that camera flashes still trigger memories of the 2018 aftermath. Not the match. The airport. The press conference. The moment everything collapsed.
“I’m not a big fan of cameras; I get anxious around cameras. That was a traumatic experience in my life, and when I hear the flash of a camera it makes me revisit that, in a way.”
Steve Smith, CODE Sports interview, September 17, 2026
“The 24-48 hours after being told by James Sutherland that I was getting banned for a year, going through the airport in Johannesburg getting absolutely mobbed, and then flying back and doing that press conference… I still have little flashbacks here and there of it. I felt like I was kind of thrown to the wolves through Johannesburg airport. I didn’t have any support there at all.”
Steve Smith, CODE Sports interview, September 17, 2026
Smith said the mental state he was in during those initial days was “not great,” a place he never wants to return to. He has tried to block the entire 2018 series from his memory.
What cameras captured at Newlands was the tampering. What they missed is what a camera flash still does to the man at the centre of it eight years later, and why walking back into South African grounds carries weight no other tour does.
Captain Pat Cummins addressed the topic on the Keepin’ it Cricket podcast. “There might be a little bit of hostility. But it can’t be louder than an Ashes series,” Cummins said. His position: “Our group’s moved on.”
The six returning players tell different stories about where they stand. Mitchell Starc took 10 wickets in Mackay against Bangladesh weeks ago. Josh Hazlewood recently reached 300 Test wickets. Matt Renshaw earned his Test comeback after years in the wilderness. Nathan Lyon remains the constant. Their cricket has moved on. Whether the ground they are walking back into will let them forget is the question Graeme Smith already answered.
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Cummins says the group has moved on. Steve Smith’s interview proves otherwise. Both statements are true, and that is the part outsiders miss.
“Moving on” is the required team line. Every dressing room has one. You say it because the alternative, admitting it still lives in your head, gives opponents and crowds ammunition. Smith did it anyway, and that honesty is rarer than people realize.
The real tell is the camera detail. A press conference scar is different from any on-field failure. Dropped catches fade because the next ball comes. A press conference where you broke down on live television does not have a next ball. The ground, the airport, the lens: they become permanent triggers. Smith is not afraid of South African crowds. He has copped hostility everywhere. What he carries is something more specific: the knowledge that the cameras in South Africa are not just covering cricket. They are waiting to see if he cracks again.
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Smith said he approaches the tour with excitement rather than fear, and plans to use hostility as motivation.
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