MELBOURNE: Former Australia head coach Darren Lehmann has revealed he remains emotionally damaged by the South Africa ball-tampering scandal and continues to have counselling more than seven months after his teary resignation in March.

Lehmann quit his role with more than a year rema­ining on his contract despite being cleared of wrongdoing in the Cape Town scandal in March. Justin Langer succeeded him in May.

“I saw people, and am still seeing people about it. That’s a work in progress,” the 48-year-old told Daily Telegraph newspaper on Wednesday. “I don’t think people know how much it affects people behind the scenes, but that’s one of those things that you go through. The help of family and close friends got me through.”

The ball-tampering scandal resulted in year-long bans to former captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner, with Cameron Bancroft suspended for nine months.

Lehmann said his former employers could have done more to support him in the wake of Cape Town.

“For me, it was okay. It was a tough time and you had bad days and good days and I’m sure all those other three blokes [players] had worse days,” he said. “You just hope they get the right help, everyone gets the right help when they need it. There could have been more help but they certainly didn’t just leave us hanging either.”

Lehmann, who will be behind the microphone for Australia’s first One-day International against South Africa in Perth on Sunday, said the governing body offered psychological support ‘but you could always have more, can’t you?’

“For me, it was okay. It was a tough time and you had bad days and good days and I’m sure all those other three blokes [players] had worse days,” he said. “You just hope they get the right help, everyone gets the right help when they need it. There could have been more help but they certainly didn’t just leave us hanging either.”

Lehmann was hailed as a saviour when he took over in 2013 and led Australia to a 5-0 sweep in the 2013-14 Ashes Test series against old rivals England.

But he has since been accused by critics of overseeing a toxic team culture that damaged the reputation of the famed Baggy Green cap.

While he and the three players have all paid a price, no one at Cricket Australia has been held to account, although the governing body has accepted some culpability and former CEO James Sutherland has departed, along with team performance boss Pat Howard.

An independent review that CA commissioned, rele­a­sed on Monday, slammed its ‘arrogant’ and ‘controlling’ culture leading up to the tampering furore, triggering calls for Peever to quit.

But Lehmann refuted a section of the review that claimed players had ‘abused’ their own staff on match days. There was also a damning assessment of what was described as a bully-boy culture in the dressing room.

“No, I didn’t personally [see players abuse staff]. That might have been before my time. I didn’t see that in my time. They were always respectful and I didn’t have a problem with that,” he told the newspaper.

“You’re a family travelling around,” he added. “Some of that has been hurtful saying the culture is not great, because it’s not too bad.”

Published in Dawn, November 1st, 2018