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

S.Kennedy

S.Kennedy

International Vice-Captain
OverratedSanity said:
I still can't believe that they got caught on camera trying to tamper, then Bancroft mouthed to a teammate "They saw me" which was also caught on camera, and Lehmann walkie talkied Handscomb to go on the field and talk to Bancroft which was also caught on camera and Handscomb shoved it down his pants, again caught on camera.

It'd have been hilarious if they'd still denied everything. I'm almost sad they didn't.
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One thing I've not seen discussed. Does this not predispose Handscomb knew?
 
Flem274*

Flem274*

123/5
TheJediBrah said:
Slightly off-topic but Waugh and Ganguly were hilarious to watch together. They seriously hated each other.

I'll try to find the video of that Toss in a One-dayer where Ganguly lost the toss then tried to pretend he'd won it and decided to bat first. Waugh's reaction was gold
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lol ganguly. biggest crier to ever skipper a test team. wahhhed at any excuse.
OverratedSanity said:
I still can't believe that they got caught on camera trying to tamper, then Bancroft mouthed to a teammate "They saw me" which was also caught on camera, and Lehmann walkie talkied Handscomb to go on the field and talk to Bancroft which was also caught on camera and Handscomb shoved it down his pants, again caught on camera.

It'd have been hilarious if they'd still denied everything. I'm almost sad they didn't.
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this is the best evidence for it not being a regular thing, but equally i can understand the suspicions of the english team

that's one major reason why smith and lehmann have to go really. you can't have people in charge that the officials and opposition can't quite trust again every time the ball reverses earlier than usual.
 
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weldone

weldone

Hall of Fame Member
S.Kennedy said:
One thing I've not seen discussed. Does this not predispose Handscomb knew?
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Knowing is not an offence in this scenario imo, unless he has the authority to make decisions. I suspect almost everyone in the Aus team knew - that shouldn't necessarily mean it was a collective decision.
 
Uppercut

Uppercut

Request Your Custom Title Now!
jimmy101 said:
This kind of reminds me of the Tiger Woods situation a few years ago. Everyone was very quick to crucify him & rant about it. Something I didn't expect was how harshly the team is being spoken of, even by average (casual cricket fan wankers) Australians. Usually Aussie are very quick to defend their sports starts, especially loudmouth idiots such as Warner, but for some reason those same fans (and news outlets) have been treating it as if they murdered someone.

Pretty amusing overall. The reactions to it especially.
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The reactions are fascinating. I was trying to explain to someone who doesn't like cricket why ball tampering is taken so seriously, but then I remembered that most of the time it isn't taken anywhere near this seriously. I recall the reaction to Afridi biting a chunk out of the ball in an ODI being like, 25% outrage 75% amusement. The Aussie commentators were pissing themselves.

It's like Lehmann and co. have created this ultra-hostile environment where cricket must be taken very, very seriously at all times while making a virtue out of all the enemies they created. And so their ball tampering is met with an ultra-hostile, "this is all very serious" response, exacerbated by all of their enemies lining up to put the boot in. It feels like Afridi cheated because he played the game like it wasn't so important, whereas this team cheat because they play as if the game IS so important.
 
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Teja.

Teja.

Global Moderator
Uppercut said:
The reactions are fascinating. I was trying to explain to someone who doesn't like cricket why ball tampering is taken so seriously, but then I remembered that most of the time it isn't taken anywhere near this seriously. I recall the reaction to Afridi biting a chunk out of the ball in an ODI being like, 25% outrage 75% amusement. The Aussie commentators were pissing themselves.

It's like Lehmann and co. have created this ultra-hostile environment where cricket must be taken very, very seriously at all times while making a virtue out of all the enemies they created. And so their ball tampering is met with an ultra-hostile, "this is all very serious" response, exacerbated by all of their enemies lining up to put the boot in. It feels like Afridi cheated because he played the game like it wasn't so important, whereas this team cheat because they play as if the game IS so important.
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I think a big factor was the PR disaster that Smith interview was. Optimally, he should've obfuscated it by calling it a misunderstanding of the rules or a honest mistake and saying we'll take whatever punishment the ICC gives us and ****ed off and waited for the dust to settle. Instead, he gave a clueless pollitician speech with stuff like "this calls into question my integrity, integrity of the team, integrity of the leadership group etc.". The world was going to treat it as another ball tampering incident, get mad for the weekend and move on. Smith made it much bigger though, he made this issue of the integrity and morality of the Australian Test captain and by extension, Australia. I was just cringing hard at how much unnecessary damage he was doing to himself in that interview.

He also should've limited exposure as little as possible by saying as the captain he takes responsibility for the indiscretion and all consequences. Instead, with the whole 'leadership group' sthick, he made it seem like a criminal conspiracy involving four layers of managment to gain an advantage. The amount of times he used the awful phrase made him appear insincere and as if he was deflecting personal responsibility.

PR people are panned a lot for producing the current culture of mundane interviews but this is one instance wherein it would've helped a lot to say "it's a misunderstanding/mistake, against the rules, will accept icc consequnces, thank you, **** you, bye".
 
SeamUp

SeamUp

International Coach
Gnske said:
Paine, Ponting and Gillespie.

Three men who really don't want the jobs that badly. What a combo it would be.
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Langer will die for it !

They call him the Grim Reaper in England

Chris Stocks
‏@StocksC_cricket
Following Following @StocksC_cricket
Awaiting CA investigation but from what I’ve heard
Warner 1 year ban
Smith 1 year ban
Lehmann sacked
Entire backroom staff sacked
 
stephen

stephen

Cricket Web: All-Time Legend
Yep this is probably the single worst interview I've seen since big Mal announced his political career.

In fact it's probably worse since this turned a manageable disaster into a full blown nightmare hurricane. I mean it was almost as bad as a Trump tweet it was that disastrous.
 
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