Cricket Australia has imposed a one-year ban on Hobart player Emily Smith, with nine months suspended, for posting the Hurricanes' Women's Big Bash team line-up on Instagram, before its official release.
In a statement on Monday evening, Cricket Australia (CA) said Smith had accepted the sanction for breaching Article 2.3.2 of the anti-corruption code.
The Victoria-born wicketkeeper-batter will be ineligible to play any form of cricket for at least three months, ruling her out of the rest of this season's WBBL and WNCL competitions.
The 24-year-old Smith posted the team on her personal Instagram account on Saturday, November 2, about an hour before the official scheduled release.
The WBBL match against the Sydney Thunder in Burnie was abandoned due to weather.
Article 2.3.2 of the code prohibits "disclosing inside information to any person (with or without reward) where the participant knew or might reasonably have known that such disclosure might lead to the information being used about betting in relation to any match or event".
CA head of integrity and security Sean Carroll said Cricket Australia acknowledged that, at the time of posting the team line-up, there was no intent to breach the code.
"[However] CA's rigorous anti-corruption player education programme means that players are well aware of their obligations under the anti-corruption code and there is no excuse for breaches regardless of the reasons for information being disclosed.
"Since the commencement of the WBBL, Cricket Australia has had in place a robust anti-corruption programme.
"We have been working with Emily throughout the process and Emily now understands the mistake she made. Unfortunately, in this instance, Emily's actions breached the anti-corruption code.
"We hope this serves as a reminder to all that the anti-corruption code is critical to protecting the integrity of the game," Carroll said.
Smith has played 43 WBBL matches.
AAP
