Newly appointed Cricket Australia ceo Kevin Roberts admits there’s an element of uncertainty around what effect Australia’s banned trio will have on the team when they’re once again eligible for selection.

Opening batsman Cameron Bancroft’s nine-month ban for ball-tampering comes to an end on Saturday, while former captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner will complete their year-long bans for their roles in the incident on March 28.

Bancroft is expected to make an immediate return to professional cricket in Australia on Sunday for the Perth Scorchers when they travel to Hobart to take on the Hurricanes.

On the eve of his return, Bancroft caused a huge stir after breaking his silence around the events that led him to tamper with the ball by using sandpaper in an attempt to scruff up the ball against South Africa during an interview with Fox Sports.

In the interview, he revealed to the public that he was asked to tamper with the ball by opening partner Warner and felt compelled to carry out the deed for acceptance within the group.

Bancroft’s interview came less than a week after Smith fronted the Australian media for the first time since his emotional press conference upon his return from South Africa, and hours before the former captain’s own sit down interview with Fox Sports too.

Speaking with ABC Grandstand Radio ahead of day three of the Boxing Day Test, Roberts said that “in a perfect world” he would have preferred the interview not to take place, but said “no new news” came to light.

“To some degree, I suppose so (frustrated in the change in focus),” Roberts said.

“But let’s keep it in context, there was no new news in it and we’re in the middle of a great Test series here.

“Yeah sure it took a little bit of the focus off the field yesterday, but I think most of those comments have been made before.”

At the close of play on day two Australian opener and shorter format captain Aaron Finch said that the trio would be “welcomed back with open arms”.

Roberts, however, was less certain how their returns would be received by the playing group, but said they would still be selected on the same basis as their peers.

“I don’t really know,” Roberts admitted.

“But what’s important is our commitment to that integration process. Working with the three sanctioned played, making sure that we’ve got selection criteria that are the same for all players whether they’re the sanctioned players or not — there’s got to be a consistency, fairness and justice in our selection criteria and so I think that’s our focus on making the road as smooth as possible as we look forward.”

But former Australian opening batsman Michael Slater was one of a number of ex-players who slammed Bancroft’s decision to give oxygen to the subject and said that he had “buried” Warner by doing so.
“I think it (Bancroft and Warner’s relationship) untenable,” Slater told Channel 7 on Thursday.

“There is a strategy behind Steve Smith and Bancroft and Dave Warner’s off the radar at the moment. They’re all running some strategy to try and regain respect from the public and from their players. But in those comments he’s buried Dave Warner.

“They had the chance way back when it happened to tell the truth about the situation. There’s no use now coming back and saying something different that was said then. They all collectively said as that little group that ‘we’re all involved’ and now they’re saying something very different.

“I don’t want to hear it. I know there’s an element of the public that now like to get to the bottom of it, but in terms of a respectful comment on Dave Warner, there’s been none of that.”

Roberts said that he hadn’t spoken to Warner since the interviews were aired, but wasn’t fearful that the former Allan Border Medallist would continue to pour fuel on the fire with his own tell-all interview and praised the left-hander’s handling of the situation.

“No, I’m not actually (nervous),” Roberts said.

“We conducted an investigation nine months ago. There was somewhere in the order of 10-15 people interviewed through that investigation, so that was thorough and I’m not particularly concerned about that no.

“I spoke to Dave just prior to Christmas but haven’t spoken to him since the interviews, but I think Dave’s to be commended on his maturity and the way he’s handling the situation at the moment.”

Meanwhile, Roberts, who was appointed to the ceo in the aftermath of the Cape Town scandal, said that there had been no suggestions that foreign objects had been used to tamper with the ball previously.