The 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal, also known as Sandpapergate, was a cricket cheating scandal surrounding the Australian national cricket team. In March 2018, during the third Test match against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town, Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to make it swing in flight. Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were found to be involved and all three received unprecedented sanctions from Cricket Australia. Although he was found not to have been directly involved, Australia's coach, Darren Lehmann, announced he would step down from his role following the scandal. Smith was replaced by Tim Paine as captain in all formats before Aaron Finch took over from Paine in ODIs and T20Is.

Steven Peter Devereux Smith is an Australian international cricketer and former captain of the Australian national team in all three formats of the game. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest Test batsmen since Don Bradman. Smith was a member of the Australian teams that won the 2015 and 2023 Cricket World Cup, the 2021 ICC T20 World Cup, and the 2023 ICC World Test Championship final.