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The ball-tampering scandal from the third Test in South Africa is a cancerous tumour on Australian cricket. It must be removed.
What was going through Steve Smith’s mind when he and the rest of the side’s leadership group decided to tamper with the ball following the lunch break is as unfathomable as it is inexcusable.
It reeks of stupidity. That Smith and company thought they’d be able to defy the game’s laws without any of the cameras incriminating them is a sad indictment of the leadership group’s intelligence.
It displays a complete disregard for the ethos in which cricket is played in this country. Hard but fair? Good luck convincing anyone that’s how we play the game in Australia from now on.
Steve Smith spoke of being “embarrassed” in his press conference after Day 3 in Cape Town. I can guarantee that feeling was shared by just about every single Australian supporter around the globe. This country doesn’t like cheats. Far better to lose a game fighting fairly to the end than resort to such cowardly tactics.
Opposition fans, as Glenn Mitchell pointed out in the immediate aftermath of the incident, already had little love for the manner in which the Australian team plays their cricket, the manner in which they conduct themselves.
These complaints can now no longer be laughed off simply because they come from people who don’t get it. They have been validated by the actions of our captain and a number of his teammates.
Steve Smith’s position as Australian cricket captain is therefore untenable. That he initially said he won’t even consider stepping down as skipper – only to do so less than 24 hours later – is only further proof that he’s unsuitable for the job.
(Photo by Paul Kane/Getty Images)
Cricket fans in Australia are hurting. We don’t want to be led by a man who is a cheat. And while Smith saved the slightest amount of face by owning up to the offence, starting that infamous press conference by telling Cameron Bancroft – a guilty party but one of the greenest members of the team – to explain what happened has rankled with many fans.
If you’re the captain, the instigator of the plan, take every damn question from the press yourself.
Regardless of the admission, Smith’s performance, for lack of a better word, at that press conference yesterday was cringeworthy. He seemed like a chastened schoolboy, not the holder of what so many Australians jokingly but semi-seriously think of as the second most important job in the country.
Smith must be sacked as captain for good. He has already been suspended from playing in the fourth Test by the ICC, but Cricket Australia must also ban him for the following ODI series against England.
Any other members of the team involved in the tampering plan should also have their leadership team credentials revoked for good, and suspended for the next Test. Fly them and Smith back to Australia.
Some have argued for more substantial bans – lifelong suspensions, never being selected for Australia again and the like. Such a punishment, even for Smith, would be an overreaction.
As black a mark on Australian cricket as it is, this wasn’t an offence which should see anyone ostracised from the game for the rest of their lives.
The long memories of sporting fans will ensure the perpetrators’ reputations will be severely tarnished for the rest of their careers. That, in itself, is a tough punishment.
But it’s a fair one. Many have claimed this marks the darkest day in Australian cricket since the infamous – but still technically legal – underarm. This deliberate disregard for the Laws of Cricket is worse.
Australian cricket fans aren’t angry with our team. We’re just disappointed.
Actually, no. We’re pretty angry too.
And the player who’s caused that has no place captaining the Australian cricket team ever again.