With the ball-tampering scandal starting to fade in the rearview mirror following fixture announcements for the summer of cricket and 2019 Cricket World Cup, Cricket Australia has confirmed details of the upcoming reviews into the culture of the Australian team.
Cricket Australia have announced there will be two separate reviews – one run by an organisation independent of the board, while the other will be undertaken by present and past players in the Australian men’s and women’s teams.
Upcoming Australian cricket fixtures:
» Full summer of cricket fixtures
» 2019 Cricket World Cup fixtures
The review undertaken by the players will be led by Rick McCosker and facilitated by director for the Centre of Ethical Leadership, Peter Collins. The players involved will include current men’s and women’s captains Tim Paine and Rachael Haynes, Pat Cummins, George Bailey, the yet to be named Australian men’s head coach and a former all-rounder Shane Watson, who is the Australian Cricketers’ Association nominee.
The review run outside of Cricket Australia will be undertaken by The Ethics Centre and led by executive director Dr Simon Longstaff AO.
Both reviews will be specifically dressing the ball-tampering incident which occurred in Cape Town, while the Ethics Centre will also look into any governance issues within Cricket Australia and more broadly in Australian cricket.
The review will also investigate links between player behaviour and the governance of Australian cricket.
The independent player review will also consider a behavioural charter for the men’s team.
In a statement, Cricket Australia said the Ethics Centre review will focus on:
– Consider whether any cultural, organisational and/or governance factors within the Australian Men’s Team, Cricket Australia or Australian cricket may have contributed to these issues, either directly or indirectly; and
– Recommend measures that Cricket Australia and Australian cricket should consider to ensure that any issues are addressed and that these or similar events never occur again.
Cricket Australia chairman David Peever said in the statement:
“We understand and share the disappointment of fans and the broader Australian community about these events. The Board is determined to do all we can to prevent such events from ever happening again,” said Mr Peever.
“We have full confidence that Simon and his team, along with Rick and the player panel will be able to fully review and identify recommendations for improvement.
“The reviews will commence immediately, and we fully anticipate being able to begin implementing findings before the start of the 2018-19 cricket season.”
JayG
Guest
Well, the motivation is simple. As everybody agrees, the Australian cricket team is not alone in trying to alter the condition of the ball Imagine the horror if by some mischance somebody on the Indian team gets caught? The BCCI would then be expected to ban the player for an extended number of months? And Virat Kohli as well for another extended number of months for failing to stop it as captain? Why should they commit to do something they simply will not be able to? I think pure pragmatism will prevent the BCCI from allowing the ICC to implement such stringent punishments. Ball tampering is already defined as an offence under current ICC rules, the only changes sought are the quantum of punishment and defining the "conspiracy to cheat" also as an offence. I tend to agree that it is unreasonable to make rules punishing ball tampering and conspiracy to cheat with the type of stringent punishment CA has undertaken. The main argument is that as Chris has been pointing out, it is very difficult to "catch" cases of ball tampering. It usually comes down to alertness of the broadcaster and it is frequently the visiting teams that are caught. So, if the rule is going to be difficult to implement, and is likely to be implemented haphazardly, does it make sense to impose strict punishment for those unfortunate enough to be caught while letting most of the violators get away scot-free? If ball tampering is difficult to prove, conspiracy to cheat is ever more so. Even in this case, only Bancroft was caught on camera. The Australian team could have very easily done what everybody else does - deny all knowledge, allow Bancroft to suffer the mild penalties and move on. It is only Smith's and Bancroft's admission during the press conference that sparked the larger debate about a conspiracy to cheat ( while Australia bemoans a lack of ethics in the Australian cricket team, perhaps we can take comfort that it could only have been a niggling conscience that prompted Smith to undertake such a confession ?) If such an offence is likely to invite year long bans, how many teams do you see lining up to confess? However, I agree with Mango's premise that this review needs to be undertaken by the ICC. I believe more radical changes need to come out of a review - a change in the ball so that tampering is no longer an incentive (maybe a ball with one side made rough to begin with), a change in rules to stop any kind of modification of the ball thus elimination this study of what constitutes a foreign material and what does not, more frequent ball changes to again stop the motivation for ball tampering, confirmation every x number of overs from the batting team and umpires that the ball is in fit condition for bowling are some suggestions. Some out-of the-box thinking that will stop this practice of ball tampering while keeping the game competitive and interesting will be welcome.
Paul
Roar Guru
ditto for Sutherland
Paul
Roar Guru
I think your idea has a lot of merit Mango. What we're talking about is cheating which is something that happens across all forms of cricket as does some really tasteless sledging, etc. The ICC would be hard pressed to come up with a reason NOT to have a review and it would put India especially on notice that they can't dictate all aspects of the game. After all, what justification would they have for not wanting to address cheating, or will the sports bookies prevail again?
Sideline Commentator
Roar Guru
The ICC probably won't want a bar of it, but the MCC, the "spirit of cricket", are constantly struggling with the morals of the modern game, so they may well be willing to entertain the idea. The MCC could conduct similar reviews for cricket as a whole and present the findings to the ICC.
qwetzen
Guest
I wonder if Sutherland will sit in on all the interviews like he did with Argus?
Bakkies
Guest
Won't wash while the Indians run Cricket their test players are just as bad behaviour wise.
Akkara
Roar Rookie
Get a bunch of cricketers who are exponents of the culture and expect them to come up with the solution! Sums up Peevers and Sutherland perfectly.
Targa
Guest
In summary, going forward the key recommendation is: "Don't get caught next time".
zoltan
Guest
The Ethics Centre should start their review on the governance and accountability of the Board - eg why is the Chairman beyond reproach?
Mango Jack
Roar Guru
I would like to see CA push to have this done by the ICC. It is clear that ball-tampering, and other issues addressed by these reviews, are problems for the game as a whole, not confined to the Aus team, and therefore should be addressed by the game's governing body.
Paul
Roar Guru
I'm chuffed CA has decided to have The Ethics Centre conduct an independent review of possible governance issues but I have a problem with the management of the final report which, presumably, goes to Sutherland and the Board. If that report clearly shows issues within CA which contributed to the scenario in SA, Peever, Sutherland and co MUST be held accountable. The issue is making sure the public sees the correct version of the report, not some doctored version that down plays any possible CA wrong doing. The big end of town, as shown by AMP, know how to manipulate words in reports. This cannot be allowed to happen to the Ethics Centre report. If they're not guilty, so be it, but I for one want to see this report at the same time as the Board, which is not unreasonable.