Former captain Steve Waugh is hopeful that banned Steven Smith eventually returns to the Australian team.

Smith is currently serving a ban after admitting to ball-tampering during the Test series against South Africa earlier this year.

Fellow batsman David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were also involved and sanctioned.

‘We need him back in Australian cricket,’ Waugh told Fox Sports Australia.

‘You can’t lose someone of his quality overnight and expect to replace it and he’s still only relatively young.

‘The Australian public, they are forgiving. Smith made a mistake and he’s paid a heavy price for it.

‘But if he gets back out there and plays with the same enthusiasm and passion, he loves playing cricket, he loves scoring runs, he wants to get back playing for Australia, I think Australians will move past what happened before.

‘They obviously remember it, but they’re big enough to realise you can make a mistake and grow from that and be stronger.’

The suspension was imposed by Cricket Australia, leaving Smith to compete in domestic tournaments around the world. He played for the Toronto Nationals during the inaugural Global T20 Canada in July and Barbados Tridents in the Caribbean Premier League in August.

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