Australian cheating at Newlands, where to from here?

[carnthemlions]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote in another thread here about the sledging that "Warner is everything bad about Australian Cricket right now", cannot believe how that comment has paid me back in spades.

This ball-tampering episode has been coming for a couple of years now, it was only a matter of time before something large hit the fan, and it sure as hell did on the weekend.

Cricket in this country has been cruising along with not a care in the world whilst the integrity & fabric of the game has been slowly eroded by the bunch of Five-Star clowns running the show. The only reason no-one has noticed is that winning Test Matches has papered over the large cracks.

I keep reading here that only moderate penalties, if any at all, should be the result of this sordid affair.

I'm sorry but this appalling & totally embarrassing situation has finally exposed what I and many others in the 'cricket family' have been worried about for some time. There are deeper issues at hand here and nothing short of a total & permanent cleanout of the guilty players & coaches will rectify the issue as well as signal to the sporting world that we do not condone cheating in any shape or form.

The other part of the equation is that Sutherland and his cronies at CA have overseen this debacle as well as indirectly contributing to it via their shoddy leadership & lack of business acumen. They too have to be cleaned out.

There cannot be any 'sweeping under the carpet' or 'slapping with a wet lettuce leaf' now, the only course of action to "cleanse" cricket in this country is for strong, harsh & decisive penalties to be handed down regardless of what affect that has on our onfield fortunes over the next couple of years.

Smith, Warner, Lehman, Sutherland have to be the first casualties (never to be seen again), anything short of that is paying mere lip service to a national disgrace.

I have to wonder what The Don would have thought of this ??

What would the Don have thought of all this? The Don was a cantankerous bastard who spent most of his career feuding with half his own side for various reasons and could hardly be held up as an example of much other than what it takes to be the greatest batsman of all time. You don't become as dominant as the Don was by being anything other than pathologically single-minded.

Much worse than this has happened in cricket, much worse is happening right now, and so on. The only real disgrace here is that Smith and co were stupid enough to get caught and admit it. You can't cleanse cricket, or most sports for that matter. This, as much as anything else, has always been a part of test cricket throughout its history. Accept it for what it is, warts and all, or pretend it's all gone away and cricket will go back to the fantasy 'gentleman's game' that exists largely in the mids of a few upper-class twats.

 

[Richard Pryor]

Amazing how some people can attract issues to a sporting scandal

lol, what a dickhead

 

[t_94]

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote in another thread here about the sledging that "Warner is everything bad about Australian Cricket right now", cannot believe how that comment has paid me back in spades.

This ball-tampering episode has been coming for a couple of years now, it was only a matter of time before something large hit the fan, and it sure as hell did on the weekend.

Cricket in this country has been cruising along with not a care in the world whilst the integrity & fabric of the game has been slowly eroded by the bunch of Five-Star clowns running the show. The only reason no-one has noticed is that winning Test Matches has papered over the large cracks.

I keep reading here that only moderate penalties, if any at all, should be the result of this sordid affair.

I'm sorry but this appalling & totally embarrassing situation has finally exposed what I and many others in the 'cricket family' have been worried about for some time. There are deeper issues at hand here and nothing short of a total & permanent cleanout of the guilty players & coaches will rectify the issue as well as signal to the sporting world that we do not condone cheating in any shape or form.

The other part of the equation is that Sutherland and his cronies at CA have overseen this debacle as well as indirectly contributing to it via their shoddy leadership & lack of business acumen. They too have to be cleaned out.

There cannot be any 'sweeping under the carpet' or 'slapping with a wet lettuce leaf' now, the only course of action to "cleanse" cricket in this country is for strong, harsh & decisive penalties to be handed down regardless of what affect that has on our onfield fortunes over the next couple of years.

Smith, Warner, Lehman, Sutherland have to be the first casualties (never to be seen again), anything short of that is paying mere lip service to a national disgrace.

I have to wonder what The Don would have thought of this ??

Don Bradman was a massive campaigner who let his business partner take the fall and substantial jail time for their dodgy business dealings.

 

[Demosthenes]

A decent article by Gideon Haigh, who I rate as one of the best sports journo's in Australia.

Ball tampering: Australians have heaped ridicule on themselves

“The line” has been a faithful servant of Australian cricket, endlessly supple, always favourable. But its day is done. Finally, belatedly, somewhat unwillingly but at last decisively, Cricket Australia has pulled it tight.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/sp...s/news-story/4dcd196f00248e5178a0f3cd6c0b234e

It's like [Sutherland] could not make a finding on the sinking of the Titanic without a report from the Iceberg Unit.

****ing lol.

 

[Hap Hapablap]

been trying to stay out of any posts over this (did on fb yesterday but got torn a new one) so felt i just had to say this

Ive supported the australian squad since 1996 when I was a nine year old watched them become a great and arrogant side with success upon success thanks to to Taylor, Waugh and Ponting. Since Michael Clarke became Captain our attitude changed but still we played hard but fair as the media portrayed it. We always screamed if something was not right, we were ruthless to those who didnt like clarke and the team (i.e Katich) and we rode the sadness of Hughes death and saw it take a huge toll on the squad effectively ending Clarkes reign hoping for a change to the team and their attitude

a new kid on the block, smith was something else, constantly scoring big scores, and warner and others improved under his wing. winning the ashes last summer was the climax of our recent success

prior to sunday morning I had hopes that smith would steer the squad to further success and he would without a doubt become a great amongst greats. that is all out of the window now

kudos to him confessing of the crime but it was because they were blatantly caught. they would never have said anything if they were not caught. however it was such a disgusting act that they would do this. granted other teams had done this before too but in a test with so much on the line, and with all the drama that has come out of it, it was one of the most disgraceful things weve all probably witnessed in the sport (as bad as cronjes confession)

at the end of all this who should take the blame.

if it was warner who was the instigator of this and the cause, he should be banned for life, yes his performances have been phenomenal but he has dragged the squad through shit over the last few weeks, disgracing the teams image by his tantrums and sooks. only for then to do something as despicable as this. if he was the instigator. he should be ****ed off and never be given an opportunity to play for this team again

if it was smith and warner. both should be banned for sometime. same as bancroft. the fact that you listened to your captain and vice captain to do something as poor as this you should cop it. but both smith and warner should be thrown out for sometime and not even allowed to play in first class cricket here. only if both were part of it.

boof looks like hes bailed to protect face but unsure if he was also involved or not. the writings on the wall though

as for the rest of the squad i do hope cricket australia ensures that they can clear them from any wrong doings. otherwise they should all be under the microscope.

sadly i think were about to witness a dark period in our game. and we have possibly just lost the next bradman cos of it. and by the media reports not at his discretion but more from the whiny little man campaigner that cant handle sledging.

 

[Gough]

Amazing how some people can attract issues to a sporting scandal

A guy who picked Brian Smith for no better reason than he had a schoolgirl crush on him over Nick Farr-Jones and Ricky Stuart has no business questioning the integrity of others.

 

[Belnakor]

been trying to stay out of any posts over this (did on fb yesterday but got torn a new one) so felt i just had to say this

if it was warner who was the instigator of this and the cause, he should be banned for life, yes his performances have been phenomenal but he has dragged the squad through shit over the last few weeks, disgracing the teams image by his tantrums and sooks. only for then to do something as despicable as this. if he was the instigator. he should be ****** off and never be given an opportunity to play for this team again

the reason you got torn a new one is because you have no idea, obviously don't watch alot of cricket and probably don't understand what ball tampering is.

 

[Outshined]

People need to stop protecting Bancroft.
You get someone who you trust to cheat, he is the best man for the cheating job.
Do you think they would ever ask Khawaja? No chance!
If Bancroft plays next test I’ll be fuming

8 tests into a fledgling career, your spot is on shaky ground, and your captain, vice captain and coach all approach you to be the one responsible for roughing up the ball. How many of us who have harbored ambitions of playing for Australia can honestly say we'd definitely not be moved to do something we might not agree with in that situation? Especially given that the typical punishment for tampering is a slap on the wrist. I doubt any of them believed it'd blow up like it has.

It's far more likely they asked Bancroft because they thought he'd be under less scrutiny as a lesser member of the squad, not because they conducted a snap selection process and found him to be the best cheater. One of the more unpalatable aspects of this all is that Smith, Davey and co turned to a malleable youngster to do their dirty work. That's not to absolve Bancroft of all blame, clearly he's at fault. But I'd be willing to bet that his actions are a symptom of the culture that's developed in the dressing room rather than any personal malevolence.

 

[Belnakor]

Don Bradman was a massive campaigner who let his business partner take the fall and substantial jail time for their dodgy business dealings.

other than Packer, Bradman probably had the largest part to do with WSC starting too. Because he acted like such a campaigner to the players they felt they had no choice other than to go and earn a living with Packer.

 

[Belnakor]

That's a drop in the ocean if it causes a 10% reduction in expectations for TV rights revenue for the next 5 years.

if anything the ratings will go up in light of this.

 

[Doss]

8 tests into a fledgling career, your spot is on shaky ground, and your captain, vice captain and coach all approach you to be the one responsible for roughing up the ball. How many of us who have harbored ambitions of playing for Australia can honestly say we'd definitely not be moved to do something we might not agree with in that situation? Especially given that the typical punishment for tampering is a slap on the wrist. I doubt any of them believed it'd blow up like it has.

It's far more likely they asked Bancroft because they thought he'd be under less scrutiny as a lesser member of the squad, not because they conducted a snap selection process and found him to be the best cheater. One of the more unpalatable aspects of this all is that Smith, Davey and co turned to a malleable youngster to do their dirty work. That's not to absolve Bancroft of all blame, clearly he's at fault. But I'd be willing to bet that his actions are a symptom of the culture that's developed in the dressing room rather than any personal malevolence.

The bolded is far more insidious than the actual act of tampering to me. As others have pointed out, it's wrong to do but it also probably happens more than we realise.

Getting Bancroft to do the dirty work though? Very distasteful.

 

[Belnakor]

Ive read from a few places CA seriously considering 12 month bans for Warner and Smith.

If they are seriously considering that, they need their heads checked. Ball tampering is as old as the game of cricket. for ****s sake the opposing captain was proven to be ball tampering 2 years ago !

 

[Belnakor]

The bolded is far more insidious than the actual act of tampering to me. As others have pointed out, it's wrong to do but it also probably happens more than we realise.

Getting Bancroft to do the dirty work though? Very distasteful.

i'm more concerned about how ineptly Bancroft was involved in the whole thing. Bit like his batting.

 

[Outshined]

The bolded is far more insidious than the actual act of tampering to me. As others have pointed out, it's wrong to do but it also probably happens more than we realise.

Getting Bancroft to do the dirty work though? Very distasteful.

Smith's complete deflection to Bancroft at the start of the press conference was the icing on an incredibly shit cake.

 

[Woody15]

If they are seriously considering that, they need their heads checked. Ball tampering is as old as the game of cricket. for ****s sake the opposing captain was proven to be ball tampering 2 years ago !

Yeh I think 12 months is a bit over the top for this incident alone however I'm not against a muchm ore substantial penalty than the one dished out. need to make a stand not just on this incident but the way the team has been run in recent times.

 

[hong_kong_bond]

if anything the ratings will go up in light of this.

Disagree entirely. And market value of TV rights are determined by more than simply ratings numbers these days

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

I enjoyed listening to Jimmy Maher on Fox this morning. He put a few things in perspective by saying people seem to think a cricket dressing room is 11 players sitting around talking as a group but nothing could be further from the truth. He said if you go into a room, you may see a couple of players in conversation, others getting treatment or rub downs, others in the nets for a hit, etc.

He said this because he doesn't believe everyone was in on it, and stated there would be a chance Darren Lehmann may not have known anything about it because he believes Lehmann wouldn't have allowed it to happen if he knew about it. When asked why Lehmann had been silent to now, Maher said the issue was under investigation and, as such, Lehmann wouldn't be allowed to comment.

It all made some kind of sense to me. We'll just have to wait and see who was implicated and who wasn't.

However, the part I really DID like was his attack on Cricket Australia for what they were doing to cricket in this country, especially the way they have disrespected the Sheffield Shield competition. He drew attention to things such as pulling the final away from Queensland, the way players are pulled out half way through matches and replaced by others, the way players aren't allowed to play because they are selected in another match in 12 days' time, etc. It was great. I was just nodding my head in agreement the whole way through.

His point was, CA has disrespected the game, and that disrespect has filtered through to the players. He ended by saying it was time CA returned to the things that worked so well in the past. I nearly stood and applauded.

 

[Woody15]

If they are seriously considering that, they need their heads checked. Ball tampering is as old as the game of cricket. for ****s sake the opposing captain was proven to be ball tampering 2 years ago !

Also I dont think the 2 incidents - our tampering and Faf's tampering - are on the same level. Not even close.

 

[Belnakor]

He said this because he doesn't believe everyone was in on it, and stated there would be a chance Darren Lehmann may not have known anything about it because he believes Lehmann wouldn't have allowed it to happen if he knew about it. When asked why Lehmann had been silent to now, Maher said the issue was under investigation and, as such, Lehmann wouldn't be allowed to comment.

lehmann has been instrumental in moving power to the coach. He is also a shit bloke who has a track record of having a crack at others who criticise him. He would be up to this in his eyeballs.

 

[Mningasimisonda]

So it would send a terrible message if they were treated in the same manner as all the other players that have done this while playing for other countries.

Du Plessis pleaded not guilty and just had a mint in his mouth. The ICC chose not to suspend him but could have.

He didn't fill his pockets with sugar and take something else out of his pocket that he specifically brought on the field to damage the ball.

One there is some doubt, one is premeditated outright cheating.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

A guy who picked Brian Smith for no better reason than he had a schoolgirl crush on him over Nick Farr-Jones and Ricky Stuart has no business questioning the integrity of others.

He's also been in politics. Enough said.

 

[Adelaide Hawk]

lehmann has been instrumental in moving power to the coach. He is also a shit bloke who has a track record of having a crack at others who criticise him. He would be up to this in his eyeballs.

Some of the reasoning on this forum is astounding.

 

[The 747]

Yeh I think 12 months is a bit over the top for this incident alone however I'm not against a muchm ore substantial penalty than the one dished out. need to make a stand not just on this incident but the way the team has been run in recent times.

The thing is a 6 month ban doesn't mean missing much cricket for them

 

[Woody15]

The thing is a 6 month ban doesn't mean missing much cricket for them

Yeh they wont miss much international cricket will they - if any.

 

[Belnakor]

Some of the reasoning on this forum is astounding.

Lehmann has been extremely involved in tactics, training, on ground decision making, fields. All sorts of things normally left to the captain. He was involved in this. No doubt in my mind.