Calm yourselves people: Steve Smith’s behaviour isn’t that unusual

Most of the hysteria that has erupted following the Australia cricket Team’s admission of ball tampering has come about because of how it has made us feel about ourselves as a nation.

There can be no greater crime than bringing shame on your nation such as Steve Smith has.

But should we actually be applying so much shame to this incident?

I don’t think we should.

Don’t get me wrong, there is no question that Smith has had a shocker. Not for one second do I think he should go without punishment. Just not the extreme level of punishment many are suggesting.

I am personally very disappointed – not just that the crime was perpetrated – but also the amateurish manner in which it was carried out. Surely if you are going to cheat, at least cheat well.

However, it is a bizarre – yet valid – defence of Smith that he did cheat so amateurishly. Do you really think that someone who was a recidivist cheat would carry out the action in such a shambolic way?

This seems to me to have been a stupidly conceived idea, the enactment of which would have been best accompanied by the Benny Hill theme music.

I think we all need to have a bex and a good lie down and put this all in perspective, lest we over react and wipe a man worthy and capable of redemption from the game.

Since before the moment Douglas Jardine started having his bowlers aim at the bodies of batsmen, the world of organised sport has been on an inevitable descent into grubbiness. The Australian cricket team has not been immune to that grubbiness by any stretch.

It’s an unfortunate truth, but the Australian cricket team is everything we’ve encouraged them to be.

For decades we haven’t just tolerated boorish, win-at-all-costs behaviour, we’ve celebrated it. The sledging, the drinking, and the yobo behaviour is part of our folklore. We’ve celebrated and awarded our representative players who we know have acted appallingly on and off the field.

(Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)

And while that behaviour as far as we know has never extended to cheating in the manner that Steve Smith orchestrated, it needs to be recognised that the line between piss poor behaviour and cheating is a very fine one.

However, it is a line that Smith – Australia’s golden boy – has definitely crossed.

That the captain of the one sporting side that all of Australia actually supports with vigour has admitted that he cheated has kicked our national pride square in the nuts. Any concept that we are in any way ‘holier-than-thou’ evaporated in one instant.

And what’s worse, right in front of the South Africans…

But does that justify banishing Smith?

Anyone who has been paying any attention knows that ball tampering is far from unheard of in cricket. In fact, it is so commonplace that the ICC treats the offence sort of like the NRL treats a shoulder charge. The ICC Code of Conduct lists ball tampering as a Level 2 offence. It carries a maximum 100 per cent fine of match payment and enough demerit points for a player to be suspended for a test.

That’s it. No mention of pitchforks, torches or public lynchings whatsoever.

Ball tampering is commonplace enough that it just can’t be considered the egregious crime that people are saying it is.

While definitely cheating, there are lots of examples of the game’s leading lights ball tampering. That list includes:
– Michael Atherton
– Sachin Tendulkar
– Rahul Dravid
– Waqar Younis
– Shahid Afridi, and of course
– Faf Du Plessis, who was playing against Smith in the recent Test.

(Photo by Cameron Spencer/Getty Images)

Those are some huge and celebrated names right there. Not one had their career ended because of ball tampering. Many of them are still regarded as gods.

Do those who are calling for Smith’s axing not know of this list, or are they holding him to higher account because he is Australian?

The latter sentiment surely has some merit. We want to think of ourselves as the good guys.
However, is it reasonable of us to expect our cricket team not to do what other sides have clearly been doing, especially when it can provide such an edge? Should we expect our team to go into a gun fight with knives?

And if it is, then what right do we have for admonishing any subsequent failure they have while fighting a righteous yet losing battle?

The greatest shame I’ve ever felt as an Aussie cricket fan was when Kim Hughes cried while resigning. The poor bloke will have to live with that his whole life. The country focused on his failure, his weakness.

The subsequent indominatable leadership of Alan Border was revered by this nation. Steve Waugh’s cut throat competitiveness was likewise celebrated. Following in their footsteps is the toughest of jobs. Living up to that would put enormous pressure on a young man such as Smith.

That pressure could lead to doing something stupid to try and win.

The poet Grantland Rice may once have been right when he wrote the words, “For when the One Great Scorer comes to mark against your name, he writes – not that you won or lost – but HOW you played the Game.”

However, that sentiment hasn’t been true for decades, if it was ever true at all. The careers of professional sportsmen are entirely dependent on results. Their success depends almost entirely on whether they win.

(AP Photo/Halden Krog)

And do we really want to know how our sides win? Do we really want to know about every crude remark or threat or cough-lolly-syrup coated ball? Or do we just want them to win?

To quote Colonel Jessup (as played by Jack Nicholson): “You don’t want the truth because deep down in places you don’t talk about at parties, you want me on that wall. You need me on that wall.”

Perhaps Smith’s greatest crime is breaking the eleventh commandment: Thou shalt not get caught.

Our golden haired boy has been caught with his hand in the cookie jar. It turns out that the one we were comparing to Don Bradman and thought could do no wrong is capable of dishonesty.

Now people are calling for Smith to be wiped out of Australian cricket for good. Our overwhelming reaction of horror and indignation as a nation sees us in danger of treating this like our country’s equivalent of the Hansie Cronje’s match fixing scandal.

However, the reality is that this incident is nowhere near as bad as that. It is just very disappointing.

To find out that we are just as grubby as everyone else is not an easy thing.