A golden opportunity: Don't pick Smith and Warner

Well, this article has certainly poked a stick into the hornets nest. I don't know who's right or wrong here. All I can do is give you my completely subjective personal view, so here goes. 1] I'm proud that CA has taken such a firm stance on it. No other cricket board has done anything like this before or since. If we really want to wipe ball tampering out of the game CA has provided the template. Let's see if any other country has the guts to follow suite. 2] With Warner, it won't worry me if he never plays again. He's a boof-head and I just don't have much time for boof-heads. On the other hand, everyone deserves a chance to turn their life around, so if he does go to England that won't worry me too much either. 3] With Smith, I think he's probably not a bad bloke, just a bit weak. I put him in the same boat as Joe Root. A nice enough guy, damn good player but just hasn't got the personality to be a strong leader. Should never have captained the side imo. Simply not tough enough for captaincy but definitely deserves another chance. 4] With the Barmy Army, who cares what they say or do? They've been indulging in their brand of mental disintegration for years and we all know what to expect from that mob of transplanted soccer hooligans. They damn near sent Mitch Johnson into therapy until he showed them that two can play that game and sent 3 or 4 pommy top order bats to the couch. .. touche Mitch. That's how you deal with them.

If they or the team cope any stick from the English crowd, it would be quite easy to remind them that they have a player in their team that almost killed a bloke. I’m having a really mugatu moment here trying to comprehend how ball tampering is anywhere the equivalent of almost killing a bloke.

If I was a selector, both Smith & Warner would be in my Ashes team. They have served their time, which was appropriate, & further punishment would be unfair. Having said that, I don't think either should ever again be captain or vice captain. I don't think there is any question as to their ability & its not like there are any obvious replacements waiting in the wings. The only questions concern their fitness, same as any other players. Some of the sanctimonious commentary on the affair is well over the top & the three players concerned have been demonised by some sections of the media. Ball tampering has been going on since fast bowlers like Miller & Trueman would run their fingers through their brylcreamed hair to keep the shine on the ball. Steve Waugh says he was "greatly disturbed by events in Capetown" but how was this worse than claiming a catch you know you hadn't taken? What by the way, were they Aussie bowlers doing while this was going on? It beggars belief that a caper like this, which involves doctoring the surface of the ball to alter its trajectory, didn't involve the quicks. To this extent, the banned players can surely feel they have been made scapegoats to some extent at least. How this will play out if the three are picked for the Ashes tour is open to speculation, but events should be allowed to take their course.

I haven't taken the time to read the article for word for word but thought I'd comment anyway. With current injury worries, if both these guys are not fit to play a single international game prior to either the WC or the Ashes I probably wouldn't play them myself. I think after 12 months out of the game and having only played Grade Cricket (that's not a whack on Grade Cricket- but both guys have been pretty up front with difficulties they've had adjusting to it) I don't think are going to give optimum performance on immediate return. But if both guys have the opportunity to get up to speed match fitness wise, they have to be part of both World Cup and Ashes Squads. They've done there time and deserve to be consider on merit like everyone else. But if we as Cricketing supporters expect Smith and Warner return going to immediate solve all of Australia's batting woes well we are in for a quick wake up call.

This is what people just don't understand. Carey is anointed as the next Aussie Keeper! He's not even a Poor Man Jimmy Peirson! We want Tim Paine playing until he's 45! At least then we might find a decent one if Alex Carey is the next Best!!!!!!

No coincidence the whole ball tampering debacle ramped up when reverse swing became an obsession and batsmen became designated ball 'shiners'. Give the ball back to the bowler as quick as possible and let them be custodians of the tool of their trade. It's bloody ridiculous seeing a bowler not even wipe a ball anymore, let alone impart sweat and polish! Furiously polishing at the top of the mark not only shines it to your satisfaction, but also carries some of that friction heat to the crease. All those things help with conventional swing. We saw the Aussie bowlers struggle in a coupla innings vs India, because if the ball isn't reversing then there's 40-50 overs of soft nude balls. Keep one side shined conventionally for 30-40 overs and the quality of Cummins et al will still swing it a half a bat width. Those bowlers just need to take possession of the ball to gain experience of what each individual ball will do. The first step has been positive - Saker is gone - now get a bowling coach, not a reverse swing coach.

Wow! Not sure if you're in a relationship mate, but if your partner was the one being publicly humiliated by a whole country - which ironically calls itself a god fearing country - just to wind you up and in the midst of that miscarries, then I suggest you wouldn't just turn the other cheek.

Warner doesn't have to explain anything to the public, let alone the issue with de Kock. Australians, on average, have always been consistent on any issues with teammates and opponents while still playing - they don't discuss it publicly. Just because the media has microphones and cameras up players noses, doesn't mean players don't have a basic right to not discuss incidents. The well worn path is that Aussies instigate everything and deserve to be slagged off, they know that and just wear it, because they don't air laundry in the media.

Exactly. If CA had actually punished them instead of solely trying to set an example for future behaviour then all 3 should have been able to play domestic at least half way thru their ridiculously long bans, to fit back into the system, get rid of the inevitable media over reaction AND take advantage of their BBL drawing power in a ludicrously extended 20/20 'season'. Instead there was the sight of them playing in 2 overseas domestic comps. I'm not holding my breath that the CA front office changes will have a more measured 'punishment fits the crime' approach. Can't wait for them to return, then the true depth of Aussie cricket and batting in particular can be gauged more accurately.

Agreed. The magnitude of S & W's 'crime' has been understated, an unblemished 140 year tradition trashed by a couple of brainless Sydney bogans. Should be a life ban, minimum, for Smith & Bancroft. And given Warner's lengthy list of crimes and misdemeanors, crucifixion.

I remember writing a comment when the penalties were handed down, questioning whether these guys were rubbed out of the game for 12 months, or was it longer? Obviously there are some who think these guys should get longer, which is a worry, but a separate problem. The other issue is whether these guys would be ready to go as soon as the bans were finished. I'm not talking about being ready to play cricket - you and I could roll our arms over or strap on some pads after this sort of payoff - I'm referring to their ability to step straight back into top class cricket. CA has lucked out that both Warner & Smith are injured, otherwise they'd have no excuses if these guys go back into the international teams and fail. They should have been playing domestic cricket since 1 January, if fit, but the CA knee jerk 12 months ago made that impossible.

Spanner - agreed. But in this case it wasn't Warner's history that was brought up - it was his wife's.. in front of the world and their kids and not in a discreet (ie something just said on the field) manner. You think the dinner table conversation with the kids that night was something that enhanced their lives?

Spot on Paul, the reasoning is flawed. Suggesting not taking Smith & Warner due to injury, but including Hazelwood who is too, in his Test squad is selective. Australia's ranking doesn't warrant leaving out players of their records, nor does extending penalties which were ridiculously harsh in the first place, based on the statement that CA wanted to make, rather than the 'crime' which had - ironically - been perpetrated by every visiting international captain who played here this summer.

Any squad of 15-16 that leaves out the only batsmen in Australia with averages over 5o is going on tour with an inferior squad. Paine and Langer are mature operators who've known full well that these guys will be back and they'll deal with it. Any suggestion of leaving out 2 batsmen who average a 50 every third innings in all 3 formats for a Maxwell to play Tests is laughable. Why you'd take a serial underperformer like Maxwell for the Test squad, but not give tour experience to Pucovski is beyond me, but that's the interesting thing about selection!

Maybe with a prudent investment in two fake beards the NSW side can field two unheralded debutants for the remaining games - Stan Smith and Darren Warner.

spare me. worst article i've ever read.

"Therefore we have little to lose but a whole heap of respect to gain."??? WTF? We have a lot to lose. We are the DEFENDING CRICKET WORLD CUP CHAMPIONS. Yes, that's right - WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS. What are the two biggest Cricketing events on a 4 year cycle? I'll tell you. THE ASHES is one, the other is, guess what? THE WORLD CUP!

Must be the silly season in between the BBL and the return of real cricket. We have one author suggesting dropping Paine and now another suggesting leaving out Warner and Smith. WTF are you guys on?

Carey averages less than 29 in FC and about the same in List A. He is not good.

BJ Watling from NZ is a better keeper batsman. Tidy keeper and average over 37 - also tends to make runs or hold up an end in tight games.