Australian double standards STINK
They tell us all how to behave, then do this
Ball-tampering has always been part of the game, so we should be careful not to get too holier-than-thou. But what makes the australians’ behaviour in Cape town different from other instances, i believe, is the premeditated nature of the crime.
Steve Smith and his ‘leadership group’ sat down at lunch on the third day of the test and decided that the team’s youngest player, Cameron Bancroft, would do the dirty work.
But this goes beyond scratching a ball with a bit of sandpaper, or whatever it was Bancroft ended up shoving down the front of his trousers. it was the accumulation of a type of behaviour that has left me fed up with this australian side — who seem to believe they are above the law and can tell the rest of the world how to behave. the double standards stink.
David Warner is a good example of the kind of thing i’m talking about. For as long as i can remember, Warner has sledged the opposition, with the exception of the one-day series in india last year — presumably because he didn’t want to risk his ipl contract.
He’s generally regarded as a nasty piece of work on the field, and some of the stuff he was alleged to have said to england’s players during the ashes was way too personal.
Yet the moment anyone has a go at him, he starts bleating about where the line is. i’m not for one moment defending what was said about his wife by South african wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock during the first test in Durban, which was totally uncalled for. But Warner is the last person who should be telling others how to behave.
as for the sight of Smith and Bancroft sitting side by side at the press conference on Saturday night, looking as if their world had caved in . . . well, i wonder if Jonny Bairstow woke up in new Zealand and had a quiet chuckle to himself. When the same two guys had a good laugh at Bairstow’s expense in Brisbane last november following the headbutt story, it didn’t sit right with me. i saw two cricketers mocking a fellow professional, when anyone who knows Bairstow will tell you that what he did was not malicious. Karma works in strange ways.
i was also reminded of how Cricket australia’s twitter feed implied that Jimmy anderson hadha been tampering with the ball during the ashes, with the headline ‘please explain there, Jimmy’. it was obvious his thumb was on the shiny side of the ball, and causing no harm. this was another example of the aussies setting the rules and appointing themselves as arbiters of the game. Cricket has come back to bite them.
Wherever that mythical line is that the australians are always banging on about, one thing is for sure: they find themselves on the wrong side of it now.
Smith must take lots of the blame. He finds himself in charge of a very good cricket team, but a team that are not especially popular, even back home in australia. it’s not necessarily the captain’s job to be popular, but it is his job to ensure his side are playing within the spirit of the game.
it will be very difficult for Smith now to carry on as captain once he returns from his one-match ban. Do a cricketing nation as proud as australia really want a cheat in charge? i just can’t see it.
Some people will argue that balltampering should be made legal, but i disagree. it would open a huge can of worms. i’d go the other way and increase the punishment. You could even go down the route advocated by my
colleague David lloyd and bring out a red card. that would soon stop the cheating.
every professional cricketer has taken part in a discussion about how to get the most out of the ball. But australia have taken things too far. and the fact there is no sympathy for them tells you a lot about the way they’ve played cricket in the past few years.