Since the sandpaper ball-tampering scandal, Australian players have received just one ICC code of conduct breach compared to 11 handed to England cricketers.
After Australia owned the title for years, England are becoming cricket’s new bad boys.
Stuart Broad yesterday became the latest England player to be punished by the ICC during a fiery Test series in South Africa.
Broad was fined by the ICC for the “use of an audible obscenity” towards South African captain Faf du Plessis during the fourth Test in Johannesburg on Monday. Du Plessis escaped penalty himself after he bumped his shoulder into England wicketkeeper Jos Buttler during the heated exchange with Broad.
Earlier in the series the ICC handed penalties to Buttler and teammate Ben Stokes, and to South Africans Vernon Philander and Kagiso Rabada, the latter of whom missed the fourth Test due to an accumulation of demerit points.
Rabada was banned by the ICC for two Tests during the sandpaper series after an aggressive send-off to Steve Smith in which he screamed in his face and instigated a shoulder collision with the Aussie batsman.
Then his ban was controversially overturned on appeal and he did not miss a single Test. In the very next match Australian cricket reached a nadir as the trio of Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft conspired to ball tamper.
That resulted in year-long bans for the former pair, a nine-month suspension for Bancroft and an unprecedented level of public scrutiny on the Australian team culture.
(AAP Image/Brendan Esposito)
Up to that point, Australia had long been considered the most hostile team in world cricket. Then-Australian coach Darren Lehmann seemed to revel in this belligerence, having been a noted sledger as a player. While in charge of the side, he even went as far as labelling Broad a blatant cheat for not walking in the 2013 Ashes, calling on Aussie crowds to “give it to” the Englishman and saying he hoped the bowler “cries and goes home”.
After Lehmann resigned in the wake of the sandpaper incident, Australia made a concerted effort to rid the team of its nasty edge. They installed the calm and amiable Tim Paine as captain and replaced Lehmann with Justin Langer, who began voicing home-spun philosophy about “elite honesty” and his players aiming to “make Australians proud”.
Langer was saying the right things. But the proof would be in the pudding. Nearly two years on from the disgrace in South Africa, it is inarguable Australia are a better behaved, more likeable team. They haven’t gone soft either. They have just eschewed, for the most part, the mindless antagonism they exhibited too often previously.
According to the ICC website, only one Australian has been punished for breaking the body’s code of conduct since the ball-tampering fiasco. That sanction was handed to Adam Zampa during the 2019 World Cup when he swore loudly in Australia’s match against the West Indies.
Just one minor ICC code of conduct breach by an Australian in 22 months since the sandpaper scandal proves Langer and Paine have improved the team culture. Not only were Bancroft, Smith and Warner banned during that series in SA, but the Aussies also racked up three other code of conduct breaches.
Mitch Marsh was punished for swearing at Rabada, Nathan Lyon was fined for his ball-drop send-off of AB de Villiers and Warner was penalised for his crazy confrontation with Quinton de Kock. That is an extreme concentration of poor behaviour within a single series by Australian players.
Then Langer and Paine talked the talk and the Aussie players honoured them by walking the walk. That’s not to suggest the Australian team is now angelic. That was never necessary, though. They just needed to be decent.
While the Aussie side set about trying to rebuild their shattered image, their Ashes foes have been racking up ICC penalties at a flying rate.
(Photo by Stu Forster/Getty Images)
Since the sandpaper series, these are the number of ICC code of conduct breaches by each major international team: England (11 breaches), West Indies (seven), Bangladesh (seven), India (five), South Africa (three), Sri Lanka (three), Pakistan (two), New Zealand (one), and Australia (one).
Of England’s 11 breaches, Broad, James Anderson, Jason Roy and Jonny Bairstow each racked up two, while Buttler, Stokes, and Jofra Archer received one apiece.
Step aside Will Smith and Martin Lawrence, the real bad boys are England.
Izzy Nutz
Guest
They’re certainly stars of the U19 cricket world, here in Australia, now...
Izzy Nutz
Guest
IAP, have you ever been to Illaroo campground near Minnie Water? Someone has defaced one of the toilet doors with your initials...
Izzy Nutz
Guest
Ah yes bodyline, the worlds longest whinge.
sandpaper
Roar Rookie
no it will take poms centuries to beat the aussies legacy
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
I think maybe the key here is "ever caught". :happy:
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
You obviously have a lot of spare time.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
What stats? The only “stat” in the article shows breaches since sandpapergate. He doesn’t show any stats prior to that, and he hasn’t showed stats based on countries in which the offenses occurred, which are the stats that would be required to prove or disprove my comment. So not really sure what you are trying to get at.
Cari
Roar Rookie
Got to agree with you mate. Pundits are headline seekers; they have to be, it goes with the job. In the UK we have our own merry band which find it impossible to utter single word without waving their arms at you to make sure you have really understood every pearl of wisdom from their lips. “If he had put a fielder there he would have been out” “Absolutely mate, how many fielders would you like eighty?” I must admit I read the intro to this piece with a grin on my face. It’s a bit rich when an Australian seeks the high moral ground on sledging on the field of play. Cricketers of all nationalities are mostly in their twenties from different backgrounds and a mix of personalities. Banter has always been part of the game but it sometimes goes way over the top i.e. racial abuse and insulting a player’s family should be dealt with immediately by the on field umpires, I favour the offender being sent off the field and taking no further part in the game so forcing his team to play with ten players, that way there would be little if any support from his fellow team members. This I know sounds harsh but match fines don’t mean much to a player and for a noted few they certainly don’t work. I feel certain sympathy for Stokes as the incident, it wouldn’t have happened but for an idiot in the crowd hurling a volley of abuse at him. I also so note there was no mention of the result of the Test, but then I didn’t expect there would be.
dungerBob
Roar Rookie
I’m interested in what the full history of CoC breaches illuminates. I have this idea in my head that Australia’s bad boy image has always been overplayed and that the reality is that we’re mid table, at the very worst, since the Code of Conduct was introduced. I could be wrong, but I’ve always thought that as far as the world wide cricketing public is concerned all of our breaches automatically earn double demerits simply because we are the Aussies. We are a soft target in that respect. .. As far as the poms are concerned they’ve always been just as dodgy as we’ve ever been but they’ve also been teflon coated. Nice to to see that veneer finally wearing a bit thin.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Oh and by the way the only team in the World ever where half the team caught smoking Jamaicans finest bungee. What horrible people we are. Thank goodness no West Indians do that stuff.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Chris the stats presented by Ronan fully suggest otherwise. Unless he is inaccurate.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
@matth Another one. This is as credible reasoning as one of Trump's lawyers (the "noted" Alan Dershowitz) has just given as the reason why Trump can't be impeached. And as elsewhere, because something is "an opinion" does not make it justifiable. You can't libel someone and then escape retribution by bleating; "But it's just my opinion".
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
@MaxP So there's no such thing as libel in your world MaxP? Novel.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
@Riccardo: Who woulda thunk it? Only people who believe that some unknown teenagers in the U19 side are "Aussie cricket stars"...
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Yes James I agree. That’s why I liked his comment. I posted a bit out of irritation for the general anti South African sentiment shown generally on this thread. We are not angels on the cricket field. Never have been and I don’t want us to be. But neither are any other team. We have ball tampered, show me who hasn’t. We have cooperated with betting syndicates. That’s on record Show me which team or rather individuals within teams who hasn’t. Cricket teams go through good and bad cycles depending on its make up, leadership and management. Australians should be well aware of that. So when SA are presented as bad people, bad spectators, bad sports all of which came up here I will defend us against obvious prejudice and bias.
JamesH
Roar Guru
England picked up 3 on this tour (discounting Stokes' simply because he was leaving the ground at the time makes no sense) and SA 2 (Rabada and Philander). There were also 3 per side in the 2018 SA-Aus test series, and that's ignoring the ICC ball tampering sanctions handed down to Smith, Bancroft and Warner. I'm not saying SA is the root of all evil, or that they are solely to blame. There just seems to be a disproportionate amount of sanctions coming out of matches played there.
JamesH
Roar Guru
You realise it's been almost two years since Australia and SA have played each other in tests, right? Bit of a difference between those sides and the current ones. Nothing Chris says is wrong.
Fracktobunt
Roar Rookie
"No I’m not kidding you. Prior to the Chappell era, tell me about the all the incidents that occurred on the field" OK Paul, will give it my best shot. -in 1817, William Lambert (the greatest batsman of his era) was barred from playing cricket for life for corruption. -in 1820's there was a farcical match played between England and Nottinghamshire where both sets of players had placed a bet on the opposition to win. This resulted in batmen trying to hit catches to get out and fieldsmen intentionally dropping the catches in an all out race to lose the game. -late 1800's WG Grace and his brother EM Grace develop a reputation for being fierce sledgers. Author Simon Rae wrote that WG Grace was "tyrannical, domineering, intimidating and a frequent cheater who would try to fool umpires and rivals with his comments" -early 1900's WG Grace ran out a batsman while he was walking down the pitch to do some gardening, well after the ball was dead and the batsman was given out. -early 1900's WG Grace is bowled and turns around and resets the stumps and tells the bowler and umpire that the crowd has come to watch him bat, not watch you bowl. -early 1900's EM Grace rushes into the crowd on more than one occasion to punch a spectator abusing him. -1920' Tiger O'reilly known to sledge opposition players heavily. -1920's England Captain W Douglas wanted to report Australian players of ball tampering and using brill cream on the ball, but the Aussies counted that Douglas's thumb nail was almost to the bone from picking the seam. -1930's Bodyline -1946 Bradman edges to 2nd slip and stands his ground and given not out. -1947 Vinoo Mankad strikes! -1950's Players wearing brill cream to shine the ball. -1960's Geoff Boycott admits that Yorkshire cricketers ball tampered in his playing days. Sources: SMH article called "A Fall from Grace" ESPN article called "Cheating-The secret History" by Derek Pringle.
Fracktobunt
Roar Rookie
Hey Paul, to help answer your question about incidents before Chappelli, just google an article by Derek Pringle called Cheating: the Secret History. It outlines the multiple examples of cricketers cheating/sledging and ball tampering in the 19th & 20th centuries. Most of them were from before Chappelli even arrived on the scene. My personal favourite is the story about two teams playing each other but both sets of players had placed a bet on the opposition and both teams were desperately trying to lose the match! Anyway, you asked for examples pre the 70’s and this should give you a good place to start but I’m sure there are many more examples that haven’t been reported over time.
qwetzen
Roar Rookie
ChrisK, I can recall DL the player clearly, probably because he was the best Oz player of spin that I've seen. His record against Merrilythrowin was spectacular, esp the Oz tour of 2004. I suspect that the only player who bettered it would be BC Lara. Anyway, you can't recall him being a "noted sledger" either eh?