LAUGHING STOCK OF THE WORLD ...and that’s the verdict of an Australian legend
IF Steve Smith was in any doubt that cheating and then not resigning was wrong, Australia’s cricket legends soon put him right.
Former wicketkeeper Adam Gilchrist and ex-captain Michael Clarke weighed in, reflecting the mood Down Under that their countrymen behaved beyond the pale by ball-tampering in the middle of a Test match in Cape Town.
Gilchrist, who played 96 Tests with distinction, is one of many former wearers of the baggy green cap appalled by what Smith and his grubby “leadership group” have been up to and doubts whether he can remain in place.
“The integrity of Australian cricket is the laughing stock of world sport,” said Gilchrist.
“We’re very quick to damn nations that cheat in any way and go beyond the rules, it is black and white.
“This is against the laws of the game and we’ve just had our national captain admit they premeditated and pre-planned a way to cheat. I’m not sure he can remain captain. He has implicated the senior playing group and in my time we didn’t name a leadership group, but that was basically the coach, captain and vicecaptain. Do they have to step aside? “They’ve got to face up to what they’ve done and the decisions they have made.” Aussie opener Cameron Bancroft (below, left), was caught in the act of ball tampering, while Smith (below) and vice-captain David Warner were stood down from their duties for the remainder of the match. Now there is every chance Smith, Warner and coach Darren Lehmann could lose their jobs permanently, such is the feeling of anger and disappointment in Australia. Former batsman Jimmy Maher called it a “national day of shame” and suggested “building a funeral pyre and burning 11 baggy green caps”.
Recently-retired skipper Clarke called it “disgraceful”, adding: “It’s premeditated blatant cheating, it’s not accepted by anyone.
“I have no doubt every past Australian cricketer will be absolutely shattered with what we found out.”
Even the prime minister Malcolm Turnbull declared: “Our cricketers are role models and cricket is synonymous with fair play. How can our team be engaged in cheating like this? It beggars belief. There’s a lot of disappointment.”
And this is the crux of a matter that is likely to end with Smith losing his job. Australian cricketers are the sporting superstars of the nation. It is their national sport.
Australia’s Test captain is considered to have the only job in the land more important than the prime minister, so when they confess to coming up with and implementing a plan to cheat they are striking at the very heart of what it means to be Australian.
Yet Smith did not quite seem to grasp the magnitude of what he and his team have done. The
suggestion he would learn from it, continue as captain and move on is as deluded as it gets.
It is as if the Australia cricket team bubble is so isolated from the rest of society they have no idea how the world sees them, not now and certainly not before this incident when they have been calling everyone else’s behaviour into question, but not their own.
Smith has tried to play the moral guardian over things such as South Africa paceman Kagiso Rabada’s run-ins with officials, while Lehmann has had his say on the abuse handed out by the Proteas fans during this series and the verbal clash between Warner and home wicketkeeper Quinton de Kock.
And that is why there is very little sympathy for the Aussies.
Ashes-winning spinner Graeme Swann said: “Perhaps this will make people realise the players are responsible for the attitude and atmosphere around a ground and a team.
“David Warner’s attitude and behaviour has caused things to stir up and a nation to rise up against their team.”