Vaughan: No sympathy for ‘mastermind’ Warner
Kane to captain IPL team
OPINION: This Australia team have disintegrated completely in less than a week. The captain, vice-captain, opening batsman and coach have all gone in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal, and it is right that they have.
What has happened to Australia – a side who were being treated as heroes by their own public just a couple of months ago after they won the Ashes so emphatically – should serve as a reminder to sports teams everywhere that no matter how invulnerable you feel, bad behaviour on the field will catch up with you. Australia’s conduct has been poor for years now, and the only way it can change is for a complete clean sweep of people at the top.
Do I have sympathy for the guys who have left? Yes – for most, at least.
I first met Darren Lehmann when he joined Yorkshire in 1997 and found him a terrific bloke. He had no trouble in mixing with the guys in the dressing room and brought a real energy to the team. Yes, he played hard and was incredibly focused on winning and being the best he could be, but at no point did I ever suspect he would embrace cheating.
In fact, I still do not – I cannot believe that he knew about the plan to tamper with the ball against South Africa in advance. He just is not that sort of character.
However, Darren will know as well as anyone that the guy who sets the culture of the team is the coach, so when something like this happens on his Kane Williamson has been appointed captain of the IPL’s Sunrisers Hyderbad, replacing the suspended David Warner.
Warner has been suspended from cricket for ball tampering during Australia’s test series in South Africa. Williamson is currently playing with New Zealand in a home series against England.
Sunrisers Hyderabad chief executive K. Shanmugam made the announcement late on Thursdsy on Twitter. The IPL starts April 7.
‘‘I have accepted the role to stand in as captain for this season. It’s an exciting opportunity with a talented group of players. I look forward to the challenge ahead,’’ Williamson wrote on Twitter.
watch, he simply has to go. It is brutal – and it did not surprise me that he broke down in tears during his announcement on Thursday, because he is that passionate about the sport and his country. But that is the only way Australian cricket can bring about proper change.
It is also why Steve Smith had to go. His press conference on Thursday night was a seriously tough watch, and he must wonder how it has all gone so horribly wrong so quickly. But he will get the support he needs to come back from this in the coming weeks and months and I cannot believe he will not come back into international cricket
Australia captain Steve Smith has already relinquished the captaincy of the IPL’s Rajasthan Royals.
Cricket Australia has banned Smith and Warner for 12 months and Cameron Bancroft for nine months from all competition in Australia except club cricket.
IPL chairman Rajeev Shukla said Indian officials subsequently extended the ban to their lucrative Twenty20 league.