CRICKETING legend Shane Warne has launched an impassioned defence of the banned Steve Smith for his role in the ball-tampering scandal that rocked the sport, labelling the former Australian captain as a “good guy” who just made a “silly mistake”.

Smith and then vice-captain David Warner were stood down for a year with opener Cameron Bancroft banned for nine months after they admitted their guilt in using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball during the Cape Town Test in South Africa in March.

Speaking in an interview with Leigh Sales on The 7:30 Report on the ABC on Tuesday night to promote his new memoir No Spin, Warne conceded that the scandal “embarrassed” and “disappointed” Australians but argued the punishment meted out to the banned trio was too severe.

“I will say this about Steve Smith as captain of the side,” Warne said. “Steve Smith is a good person. He made a silly mistake, an error in judgment. I think in this country we’re too quick to hang people and just nail them.

“We cry out for characters but then we cut people off so quickly. And Steve Smith, to me, is a good guy. He’s a wonderful captain, he’s a great player. He just made a silly mistake and I don’t think the punishment fitted the crime.

“A 12-month ban for that? It equated to about an $8-10 million fine. I thought they were very, very, very hard done by and it was a very harsh penalty.”

However, Warne acknowledged that Australia’s standing as a sporting nation that plays by the rules had been adversely affected by the scandal.

“All of us as Australian were disappointed, we were embarrassed and I think the wider cricket community thought: ‘Australians don’t do that. That’s not the way Australians play their sport. They play it hard, they play it tough. They’re uncompromising but they’re fair. Always been fair’,” Warne said.

“And we have been in all our sports. So it’s really disappointing to see that. They have to earn the respect back of the cricketing public and the Australian public. And all the cricket community.

“We hated it and we didn’t like it and they have to earn our respect back.”

Warne was somewhat downbeat about the current standing of Australian cricket, believing the top tier of stars have become too disconnected from the grassroots of the sport in this country.

Warne, who took 708 Test wickets, argues that more has to be done to inspire the next generation to take up cricket — and that it’s mostly the responsibility of the elite few.

“I think we’re struggling. Pretty ordinary at the moment, Australian cricket,” he said.

“I think in any business you need the foundations to be strong. And the foundation of Australian cricket has always been grassroots cricket, club cricket and first-class cricket, Sheffield Shield cricket.

“To me, I think Cricket Australia is devaluing Shield cricket I don’t think there are enough first-class cricketers getting into school cricket and inspiring people and talking to young boys and girls to say cricket’s a great game and this is why, teaching them techniques.

“I’d like to see first-class cricketers getting down to schools, I’d like to see them playing club cricket. I’d like to see international players playing domestic Shield cricket — and playing because they love it and they want to give something back to the game.

“I know it’s hard but they’ve got to do it. They just have to do it for the longevity and successfulness of Test cricket in Australia and that Australian cricket remains strong.”