Baggy Green ball tampering: Bancroft, Smith and the Aussie "Leadership Group"

[cnerd123]

I actually do hope they ban Smith for life. It will probably be better for his career. His form is already on a downward slump. I'm with Blocky - his purple patch was just that, and if he continues to play Tests his average will drop to mortal levels and he'll fall behind the rest of the Big 4. Not to mention that no one in the dressing room can trust him anymore, given he's a liar and a cheat. And imagine the jeers he'll get from the fans. Imagine the sledging. He's going to be sitting the match referee's office after every day's play listing out all the mean things said to him, like it's therapy.

For his sake he should probably retire and never play Tests again IMO.

 

[TheJediBrah]

Nah, that would only apply if they were newer posters or known morons claiming trolling. The ***** types are well-known for trying to wind people up.

Emphasis on "trying". ***** isn't subtle enough.

 

[morgieb]

This all very true for a lot of the people "outraged" about this, only bit I don't disagree with is that it's not-Australians arguing for the harshest punishments. If anything it's the Australian casual fans that don't really understand what's going on that are calling for the harshest punishments because they feel betrayed.

Exactly, I think most of the people who genuinely want blood for this are moronic Australian casuals. Here the discussion is a lot more nuanced, we're seeing few people actually calling for fixing-esque bans.

 

[BeeGee]

Bloke drinks and drives in a company car - gets caught, loses his licence. That's the law dealing with the underlying issues.

The company doesn't fire the bloke or do anything, no one cares, media says nothing, fans keep on going on with their lives without making it an issue.

Same bloke drinks and drives in a company car for a second time - gets caught, loses his licence again. That's the law dealing with the underlying issues.

The company doesn't fire the bloke or do anything, no one cares, media says nothing, fans keep on going on with their lives without making it an issue.

A year later another bloke drinks and drives in a rival companies car - gets caught, loses his licence. That's the law dealing with the underlying issues.

Fans call for that company to ban that bloke for life/5 years/1 year for disgracing the company and act like that bloke is the devil and it's unprecedented.

Seems some can't see the problem with this.

It's not the same bloke and it's not the same company.

I really shouldn't be wasting time on this.

 

[Shri]

I don't want Smith or Warner banned. Playing cricket in disgrace without being allowed to chirp or have a voice is press conferences must be punishment enough for them.

 

[S.Kennedy]

They could of course punish him by sending him to the Penal Colony of New South Wales.

Oh, wait a minute...

 

[cnerd123]

You know what should really be worthy of a life ban?


Having a basketball team logo as your avatar on a cricket forum. FFS.

 

[Ausage]

This saga has been pretty interesting, particularly on CW because I get to see more of the international reaction than I would elsewhere. I understand why some people here are digging the boot in (there's some deeply dislikable attributes of this team in particular), but some of the broader "this is rooted in Australian culture" stuff is absolute garbage.

I've never seen a cricketing controversy blow up like this. I received messages about it from people I wouldn't have thought knew cricket even existed. I've had conversations all week at work about it with people who wouldn't have been able to name the Australian captain before Sunday. It's stunned people from every walk of life. There's a bunch of reason's why this scandal feels worse than previous and I don't think it's because a piece of tape has somehow more effect on the ball than mints (I don't even know if that's true). Part of what makes it so notable is that the response from Australia as a whole has been deafening. Yes, the PM commenting on it feels stupid, but given the breadth of people who care about the issue it's hardly surprising. We hate cheating, yet somehow we get hot takes about how this is somehow indicative of a sickness in our psyche? Was the response against cricketers from other nations who've done the same thing (or worse) so swift and overwhelming in their home countries?

I get this one is different for other reasons too, namely how ham fisted it was, as well as Smith owning up to the conspiracy. But come on, there's a pretty broad consensus here that some level of tampering happens frequently, does anyone seriously believe none of the "leadership groups" know about it in these cases? Is the only true crime here that they were such buffoons about it? As a slight aside I think Smith was really naive in owning up to it, thinking that being honest about something plenty of others have done on some level would soften the outrage. He was very very wrong about that obviously (it just dug him deeper into it).

Looking forward to similar reactions from fans of other nations when this issue inevitably rears its head again though. I'm sure you'll all be as hard on your cheats as we're being on ours.

 

[Shri]

Yeah the **** has ruined reverse swing for everyone. What a dolt.

 

[cnerd123]

We won't be as hard on our cheats because we don't profess to be morale leaders of world cricket.

We don't try to uphold a false image of our cricketing cultures.

 

[MagicPoopShovel]

What do you guys think would have happened if Smith had simply said "I take full responsibility. It was an error in judgment. Won't happen again" and left it at that. And maybe said "I will consider my position as Captain after this Test" without saying he thinks he's still the right man for the job when asked about it.

That would have been more or less what others have said/done in the same situation previously

I think the second he went into the leadership group stuff it just went from a comedy of errors type of affair to a full blown disaster for Australia.

I wonder what the thinking behind the things that were said by Smith were. I suppose they felt the footage was so incriminating to him, Bancroft, Lehmann etc that they had to go down this path but I feel like the same could have been achieved by just saying it's all his fault and then cop whatever came after..

 

[Victor Ian]

Two different companies being held accountable by two different sets of fans. There is no consistency to be expected in this scenario.

Again, Faf's charges are irrelevant to Cricket Australia and their decision.

So, can we draw the obvious conclusion here that South African, and most other cricket playing countries, fans are just full on ****s, while Australia consists of decent people with high morals?

 

[MagicPoopShovel]

By the way what's the latest on that Bancroft sugar in the pocket footage..has that been addressed?

Could it play into the investigation because I am sure people are going to try and nail the Aussies on other times they may have done it given they've said that this was the first time it's happened.

 

[Starfighter]

Out of all the little articles that have popped up this might be the stupidest:

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...l-tampering-world-trust-sport-election-result

I wouldn't expect anything less moronic out of the Guardian though.

 

[Ausage]

We won't be as hard on our cheats because we don't profess to be morale leaders of world cricket.

We don't try to uphold a false image of our cricketing cultures.

I get that and as I said I do understand why much of the international reaction has been so savage. But I do think the standard you're referencing is aimed much more at the national marketing of the game than the international. I think in part its aimed at promoting that culture to our cricketers, in a sense saying "you will be held to a higher standard than others" (though tbf I'm not part of the cricketing fraternity, just a poster on CW). I think that's a noble aim, but I do see how it comes across as sanctimonious to outsiders.

 

[Spark]

We won't be as hard on our cheats because we don't profess to be morale leaders of world cricket.

We don't try to uphold a false image of our cricketing cultures.

Not sure if this is a troll but it's pretty dubious if not

 

[social]

All this talk about conspiracy theories and premeditation is such a beat up

News flash: it is and has been going on for a long time

For example, Trescothick admitted that he tried several varieties of lolly before settling on Murray Mints as being the most effective while sledging is generally targeted at those might likely to be affected while others (e.g. Viv, Lara, Tendulkar, etc) are ignored as it is likely to backfire

What Australia did was <insert whatever you feel appropriate here> but let's not pretend that they took it to new heights in anything other than complete stupidity/incompetence

 

[cnerd123]

So, can we draw the obvious conclusion here that South African, and most other cricket playing countries, fans are just full on ****s, while Australia consists of decent people with high morals?

Nah. The Aussies are all ****s who need to overcompensate anytime any one of them gets caught slightly breaking the laws, resulting in a culture where they constantly 'headbutt the line' and are quick to whinge and moan about other players playing dirty. They are constantly conniving and trying to find ways to bend the rules, if not outright break them, and then they hold themselves to this moral standard they know they cannot meet, so try to cover up with lies and doublespeak and denial, and go about their days constantly wrecked with guilt and insecurity, which ultimately expresses itself in calling for a life ban for the best-after-Bradman captain who just did something every other Test nation does, but badly.

The South Africans, like the rest of the world, actually play cricket 'hard but fair', occasionally get carried away, but accept that they are flaws humans and the rest of us go "yea okay, no worries, just don't do that again" and they're all like "yea cool no worries" and we go about our day happy and peaceful.

You Aussies need therapy.

 

[NZTailender]

What I love is the mental image of Lehmann on the walkie talkie to Handscomb, like this was some kind of major secret-op, except it was orchestrated by the Germans from Hogans Heroes.

 

[cnerd123]

Not sure if this is a troll but it's pretty dubious if not

SEE TJB I can be subtle after all.