So here we are, not at the Australian cricket team’s metaphorical ‘line’ that they believe they don’t cross when it comes to their behaviour on the field, but at Cricket Australia’s (CA) ‘line in the sand’.
For more than 12 months, cricket in Australia has been building to this point. It started with the pay dispute over the Memorandum of Understanding between CA and the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA).
CA lost that dispute so spectacularly that they have appeared weak and lacking in influence ever since. And from this, it appears as though the playing group and their support staff have formed into an’ Elite Protected Group’, able to do as they wish with a bubble of invincibility around them, answerable to no one but themselves.
And once again, while they were winning, it was hardly questioned. But as that winning feeling has worn off, the behaviour of the team has become worse, or just more noticeable.
With these revelations in recent days, Cricket Australia has the chance to re-impose itself on the national team and the way it wants it to be reflected to the public of both Australia and the world – and they must take this chance before it is too late.
Things CA must do immediately
1. Steve Smith and David Warner should be given a 12-month suspension from all cricket, in order to show just how serious this decision was by these two senior players.
CA must be shown to be serious in ensuring this never ever happens again under their watch, and while such a decision will not only hurt the team’s chances of winning matches but hurt at drawing spectators to watch cricket, it will be seen as a tough but ultimately correct decision.
(AAP Image/Dave Hunt)
2. Darren Lehmann should be relieved as coach after the fourth Test, and Justin Langer should be announced as his replacement effective immediately.
All coaching staff who have been appointed within Lehmann’s purview should be moved on as well, and a whole new set up needs to be considered, along with a review as to whether the excessive amounts of people who are employed in the support staff are required.
Langer has been praised for the culture change he has made with Western Australian cricket. Let’s give him a chance to do the same for Australia.
3. Cricket Australia needs to redefine just how Australians act on the cricket field, and have it set such that if there are any transgression in the future they can be acted on immediately.
The team has to take ownership of their behaviour, but if they transgress according to the board then they must be pulled back into line.
It is not enough anymore to suggest that the team knows what is right and wrong, or what is pushing the boundaries and what is beyond them. It needs to be held accountable, and better than it has been in recent times.
4. George Bailey should be appointed as captain of the Australian team, and flown to South Africa immediately.
He may not be the best batsman to slot into our batting line-up – averaging 33 this summer with one century and five half-centuries – but giving Bailey the job will mean the team has a confident leader with a good record as captain, and a man who will be respected both by his teammates and the opposition.
It may only be a short-term solution, perhaps for the Australian summer, but his public persona and almost constant lopsided grin will help to restore public faith in the office of Australian captain.
(AP Photo/Rob Griffith)
5. Any player who was involved in the ball tampering decision – including Cam Bancroft – should be stood down from the fourth Test. Handing places to Jon Holland, Jhye Richardson and Chadd Sayers wouldn’t be the worst thing, and the chance to get Matt Renshaw back at the top order would also be good.
There is a real chance for Australia to wipe the slate clean right now, and start to rebuild their battered image in the world and become what it was once again – a team at the top of the world that is renowned for playing hard on the field but for also for its fair play, and for being able to enjoy a drink after the day in the right spirit.
Surely it can’t be that hard. More than anything else, Cricket Australia and its team has to regain the faith of all of the children of Australia who have had their heroes crush their belief in the game of cricket in the past few weeks.
If they can’t do that, then the sport in Australia, which is struggling at the grass roots level as it is, may just collapse completely.
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