Warner, Smith take as much heat as they can, says pacer Josh Hazlewood

As Australia are gearing up to tour South Africa for the first time since the ball-tampering scandal, pacer Josh Hazlewood has said batsmen David Warner and Steve Smith "try and take as much heat as they can and keep the younger guys out of the spotlight."

"Think Steve and Dave have ticked off pretty much every box since coming back and this is just another one of those; don't think it will faze them one bit," ESPN Cricinfo quoted Hazlewood as saying.

"They probably play better when it's like this, probably try and take as much heat as they can and keep the younger guys out of the spotlight. It's nothing we haven't experienced before; it's quite a long time ago now and a lot of different players from that Test team," he added.

Warner, Smith and Cameron Bancroft were involved in the ball-tampering scandal which took place in 2018 during the Cape Town Test. After the incident, Warner and Smith were handed a one-year ban while Bancroft was banned for nine months.

Australia are scheduled to tour South Africa for three T20Is and as many ODIs. The first T20I between South Africa and Australia will be played on February 21.