Shameful, bald-faced cheating
THIS was not a moment of madness.
It was the culmination of a grubby win-at-all-costs culture deliberately crossing the thin line between self-righteous rule-bending into a world of shameless, bald-faced cheating.
Having teased and taunted and demeaned opposition sides for years, Australia developed such a shallow respect for the spirit of the game that it decided a little bit of cheating would not go astray.
If this was a horse race rather than a cricket Test, Australia would already be disqualified and sent home, which is what they deserve.
That is the way sport is supposed to work. You cheat. You lose. You get banned.
So outrageously stupid was Australia’s decision to tamper with the ball that if they did pull off a miracle and win the Test they should not be allowed to accept it.
Steve Smith’s reputation – and that of his team – will never recover from this.
You would not do it in a third-grade game. He sanctioned it in a Test match.
If he is axed as captain – and there is a strong push for it – there can be no excuses.
But this story has many threads, including the plight of Cameron Bancroft.
There was escalating school of thought today that Bancroft was the “mule” in this operation, sent to do the dirty work that senior players wouldn’t do after they hatched the plan.
Don’t feel sorry for him. He is not 12 years old. There are primary school children who would be strong enough to say no to ball tampering.
He knew what he was doing just as Pakistan’s Mohammad Amir knew what he was doing when he deliberately bowled no-balls in a Test match.
Amir went to jail. Bancroft is likely to be banned for one Test and his career must surely be at the crossroads.
How on earth did the coaches let it get to this?
If Darren Lehmann and his staff were part of this decision, they should resign.
If they were not part of the decision, then you wonder what on earth they actually do.
They must take some responsibility for letting a group of players make perhaps the dumbest collective decision in the history of Australian cricket. And for declining standards of sportsmanship in the team.
Back in the 1980s, Australia players used to be outraged at how Pakistani bowlers used to get the ball to reverse swing.
“You have heard they use bottle tops to scratch it,” was the common protest call.
Well, this episode is even worse because back then the world was still awakening to the reverse swing culture.
Now the rules are clearer and everyone knows the difference between right and wrong. Or we thought they did.
For me, this is the most embarrassing episode since Australia fined Mark Waugh and Shane Warne for dealing with Indian bookies in the 1990s. But in many ways this is worse.
Back then, there were no rules regarding bookmakers.
This is just cold, shameless, premeditated cheating.