Steven Smith 'spent four days in tears' after ball-tampering scandal

Australia's former captain Steven Smith has revealed that he "spent four days in tears" as the magnitude of the Newlands ball-tampering scandal and its penalties dawned on him.

On the day that he and David Warner were picked up by teams in the forthcoming Global T20 Canada tournament, as part of their plans to return to competitive action while serving 12-month playing bans imposed by Cricket Australia, Smith spoke at Sydney's Knox Grammar School for the Gotcha 4 Life Foundation.

"To be honest, I probably spent four days in tears. I was really struggling mentally and I was really lucky that I had some close friends and family members that I could speak to at all hours of the day," Smith said in audio obtained by the Sydney Morning Herald.

"The people that I had supporting me through that whole time made a huge difference to the head space I am in now."

While Warner took part in the New South Wales squad's 2km time trial to start their pre-season training schedule, Smith is expected to keep training privately before making the trip to Toronto, for a tournament where he will donate his fees to community cricket projects in Canada and Australia.

Warner will turn out for the Winnipeg Hawks in the tournament that runs from June 28 to July 15, while Smith - a marquee player - will play for Toronto Nationals. After this tournament, Warner has committed to playing cricket in Australia's Northern Territory along with Cameron Bancroft, the third player to be banned during the scandal. They will play in Darwin's limited-overs Strike League, with Bancroft committing to playing the entire tournament while Warner will play two games.

The Global T20 Canada will take place at Maple Leaf Cricket Club located in King City, Ontario, a small rural village 25 miles north of downtown Toronto. Apart from Smith and Warner, some other high-profile internationals taking part include Pakistan allrounder Shahid Afridi, Sri Lanka fast bowler Lasith Malinga, and West Indian T20 superstars Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Sunil Narine, Darren Sammy and Dwayne Bravo.

Toronto Nationals: Darren Sammy, Steve Smith, Kieron Pollard, Kamran Akmal, Hussain Talat, Rumman Raees, Nikhil Dutta, Johnson Charles, Kesrick Williams, Naved Ahmed, Nizakat Khan, Farhan Malik, Nitish Kumar, Usama Mir, Rohan Mustafa, Mohammad Umair Ghani. Coach: Phil Simmons

Vancouver Knights: Chris Gayle, Andre Russell, Evin Lewis, Tim Southee, Chadwick Walton, Fawad Ahmed, Babar Hayat, Sheldon Cottrell, Saad Bin Zafar, Ruvindu Gunasekera, Srimantha Wijeratne, Kamau Leverock, Steven Jacobs, Salman Nazar, Rassie van der Dussen, Jeremy Gordon. Coach: Donovan Miller

Edmonton Royals: Shahid Afridi, Chris Lynn, Luke Ronchi, Mohammad Irfan, Sohail Tanvir, Christiaan Jonker, Wayne Parnell, Asif Ali, Hasan Khan, Agha Salman, Shaiman Anwar, Ammar Khalid, Satsimranjit Dhindsa, Ahmed Raza, Simon Pervez, Abraash Khan. Coach: Mohammad Akram

Montreal Tigers: Lasith Malinga, Sunil Narine, Thisara Perera, Mohammad Hafeez, Denesh Ramdin, Sandeep Lamichhane, Sikandar Raza, Dasun Shanaka, Isuru Udana, George Worker, Najibullah Zadran, Cecil Pervez, Ibrahim Khaleel, Dillon Heyliger, Nicholas Kirton, Rayyan Pathan. Coach: Tom Moody

Winnipeg Hawks: Dwayne Bravo, David Miller, David Warner, Lendl Simmons, Darren Bravo, Fidel Edwards, Rayad Emrit, Ben McDermott, Ali Khan, Hamza Tariq, Junaid Siddiqui, Tion Webster, Rizwan Cheema, Hiral Patel, Mark Deyal, Kyle Phillip. Coach: Waqar Younis

West Indies B: Anthony Bramble (Captain), Fabian Allen, Alick Athanaze, Roland Cato, Justin Greaves, Derval Green, Kavem Hodge, Brandon King, Jeremiah Louis, Obed McCoy, Khary Pierre, Nicholas Pooran, Sherfane Rutherford, Shamar Springer