Let actions do talking
How former Australian cricket captain Steve Smith and his former deputy David Warner react both on field and emotionally to the constant booing during the World Cup will be a trust test of whether they can move on from their year-long exile for cheating. So far, they’re showing they are well and truly ready. Both have come out swinging with Smith showing great depth in his grit, bunkering down against the West Indies with Australia desperate at 5 for 79. Smith went on to score 73, driving Australia to 289 and a 15-run win. It was just like the “old days” – Smith digging his batting teammates out of a bog and giving his bowlers something to aim for. The captain’s knock (when you’re not the captain), doesn’t necessarily mean the rest of the world is ready to move on from “sandpaper-gate”. There has been widespread
criticism of the crowds in England booing each appearance on field of Smith and Warner, causing many, including respected commentator Kerry O’Keefe, to condemn it.
“(Booing) the Australian former captain and vice-captain, it is disrespectful. They’ve paid their price for what they did in Cape Town. The booing is boorish, it’s churlish, it’s hypocritical; hello Murry Mints,” he said, a reference to England’s use of mints to encourage swing in the 2005 Ashes.
O’Keefe is also right that the booing is not befitting a World Cup event.
There have been far worse cricket crimes made over time and these two have served their punishment – but life isn’t always fair and mud sticks.
I remember the morning Australia woke up to the controversy. Friends, family and armchair critics denounced the actions and were in full outrage mode. If Smith didn’t realise the enormity of it right then, he soon did.
He’s had a year to soul search about how his leadership allowed the cheating to occur. Warner now has to prove himself to be the type of cricketer Aussies expect when they put on the baggy green. You can’t stop people booing. We can moan all we like about the unfairness of it but the best response will be what Smith, Warner and Australia do on field. Sandpaper-gate revealed deep cultural issues within the Australian cricket system and there has been as much soulsearching within the hierarchy as what Smith and Warner have had to do.
Golfer Tiger Woods went from legend to low-life and back again after years of rebuilding his body, personal life and swing.
As he strode to glory at this year’s Masters tournament in the ultimate comeback, the boos and sneers were a distant memory drowned out by deafening cheers around the world.
You can’t change history but you can have a say in the future.
SANDPAPER-GATE REVEALED DEEP CULTURAL ISSUES WITHIN THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKET SYSTEM AND THERE HAS BEEN AS MUCH SOUL-SEARCHING WITHIN THE HIERARCHY AS WHAT SMITH AND WARNER HAVE HAD TO DO.