Legends demand dismissals to save Baggy Green status
Australia’s cricketing aristocracy rounded on their Test side in the wake of the cheating scandal which has convulsed the nation.
Captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner have stood down temporarily after Smith admitted a “leadership group” had conspired to tamper with the ball in the third Test against South Africa, although no decision has yet been made on their long-term futures.
“It’s hard to see how Steve Smith can continue as Australia captain and it’s hard to see how David Warner continues as vice-captain,” said former fast bowler Jason Gillespie.
“It appears there’s going to be some big changes on and off the field. The Australia side has to have a deep reflection on how they go about the game, how they’re perceived in the wider cricketing world. That perception isn’t good, that’s the brutal reality.”
There was also incredulity from Michael Clarke, Smith’s predecessor as captain, about how Cameron Bancroft, just 25, had been leant on to do the dirty work.
“I can’t believe they have got the young kid playing in only his eighth Test to do that,” he said. “As a leader, you can’t ask somebody to do something that you’re not willing to do yourself. You can see that Smith is shattered. In my heart, I believe he has just made a really bad mistake. If something is to happen to Steve, then the captaincy cannot go to anybody who has been involved in this situation.”
Clarke – who retired from cricket in 2015 after playing 115 Tests for Australia – even opened the door to an unlikely return to the role of captain himself. Asked by television station Channel 9 if he would contemplate coming back to lead his country, Clarke replied: “If I was asked by the right people, then I would think about my answer.”
Simon Katich, the former opening batsman, argued that James Sutherland, Cricket Australia chief executive, had no choice – after Smith’s acknowledgement that the entire “leadership group” had been complicit in tampering – but to sack the captain, as well as coach Darren Lehmann and vice-captain Warner.
“This was premeditated and calculated, and those guys are in charge of Bancroft behaving the way he did. I love Steve Smith, but he has made a serious error and I think it is going to cost him the captaincy of Australia. If Cricket Australia condone blatant cheating, then the message they send to the thousands of kids who aspire to wear the Baggy Green is far worse than a few guys losing their jobs.”
While Smith denied that Lehmann had a role in the plot, Katich expressed doubts about the captain’s account. “The footage I’ve seen – with Lehmann on the walkietalkie to Peter Handscomb down on the boundary line, trying to get a warning out to Bancroft that they were all over him – indicates to me that he was clearly aware of what was going on,” he said.
Former captain Allan Border was clear that Smith should be prepared to lose his job on a permanent basis. “If the ICC and the Australian board decide that Steve Smith is free to play in the fourth Test, I would be comfortable with that,” he said.
“But equally, if he has to pay a penalty for his leadership in going down this path, I would be just as comfortable.” Australia’s media are notoriously tough on their opponents but they can also train their fire on their own.