CHEATS HAVE NO PLACE IN OUR GAMES

WITH Australia’s cricketers embroiled in a disgraceful cheating scandal on the eve of the Commonwealth Games, GOLDOC chairman Peter Beattie (above) has taken a firm stance on sportsmanship.

“You have to have honesty and integrity. People hate cheats,” Mr Beattie said ahead of the Games, which start next week.

It comes after cricket captain Steve Smith (below) admitted he and the leadership group instructed Cameron Bancroft (left) to tamper with the ball during the third Test against South Africa. Smith and vice-captain David Warner last night stepped down from their roles.

CRICKET Australia is facing a national revolt unless it sacks Steve Smith as Test captain – and the besieged leader faces another uprising from angry senior players.

The public has spoken and they are as furious over the ball-tampering incident as any event in recent cricket history.

A fan survey of almost 30,000 voices has voted 90 per cent in favour of sacking Smith and while the fans’ opinion is never the deciding factor, Cricket Australia would do well not to underestimate the outrage.

Smith’s declaration that the balltampering was sanctioned by the leadership group (Smith, David Warner, Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc) has reportedly infuriated at least one member of that group, who insists he was not involved and will firmly make that point to the skipper.

Yesterday, Cricket Australia boss James Sutherland had yet to speak to Smith personally but said he was “extremely disappointed and shocked”.

“Australian cricket fans want to be proud of their cricket team,” Mr Sutherland said. “I feel this morning they have every reason to wake up and not be proud of the team.”

At that stage Mr Sutherland wouldn’t comment on Smith’s longterm position as captain.

“We are in the middle of the game right now and that game needs to conclude.

“But over the course of the next couple of days we will get to the bottom of this and we will take appropriate action,” he said.

Cricket legend Allan Border said that Smith – who earlier this year was being hailed as the best in the world as he led Australian to victory in the Ashes – had to be punished for his actions.

“Steve Smith has said this was a plan which was put together by the leadership group and it’s something that they’ve obviously talked about previously,” Border said.

“Whether the whole team is involved or if it’s just the senior people around the place saying, ‘We’ve got to get the ball reverse swinging, that’s a key component in our quest to win this Test match – what are we going to do?’, it all gets discussed.

“But they’ve just got to stick their hand up and say, ‘We’ve been caught out doing something very silly, and it’s wrong’. And they’ve got to suffer the consequences. It’s as simple as that. It’s like any situation: you do the crime, you’ve got to do the time.”

AUSTRALIAN CRICKET FANS WANT TO BE PROUD OF THEIR CRICKET TEAM. I FEEL THIS MORNING THEY HAVE EVERY REASON TO WAKE UP AND NOT BE PROUD OF THE TEAM. JAMES SUTHERLAND

More former Australian players took to Twitter to express their disgust. Jason Gillespie said he was “gutted”, Craig McDermott called it a “shocking day for the baggy green” and Rodney Hogg said Smith “had to”

Former Test captain Michael Clarke was visibly upset as he spoke about the “disgraceful, premeditated” cheating on Channel 9’s Sports Sunday program and refused to rule out a return to the baggy green.

“If I was asked by the right people, then I would think about my answer,” he said.

DISGRACEFUL. Embarrassing. Humiliating.

The crisis engulfing Australian cricket is all of the above and much more.

It’s easy to get caught up in the justifiable whirlwind of rage currently surrounding a team that is truly a national icon.

Yet, if we take a step back and remove the emotion, it’s already time to look ahead and ask what comes next.

It’s not just about Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft and whether they should keep their jobs (most of us already have a firm opinion of that).

No, it’s time to think about junior players and what this does to the game as a whole.

Remember those allegations we used to throw at Chinese swimmers, Russian athletes and Pakistani cricketers? Dirty, we’d say.

Cheats, we’d protest.

Well, take a look in the mirror, Australia, we’re one of them.

I don’t just mean the Test side, but perception is reality and right now our nation’s cricketers – at every level – are being tarred with the same brush.

Just as galling was Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland’s weak response yesterday when he blew the opportunity to set the standard.

As a long-time cricketer, I’ve long found a way to defend our Test players.

“Hard but fair,” I’d proclaim to mates about some behaviour that would put a toddler on a sugar-high to shame.

The truth is our elite side has been, at best, petulant and, at worst, arrogant bully boys for a long time. There is no more tiptoeing around any titles now. Cheats.

Not even Houdini could escape that all-consuming – and extremely ugly – tag. Thanks very much, Steve Smith.

You have just set us back a generation. No more moral high ground for those grassroots players who could hide under the “hard but fair” umbrella.

Fair has just been redefined – and it’s hurt our newest players the most.

“Grassroots cricketers coming through right now ... we want to make sure we are setting the right example,” former Test spinner Brad Hogg told Fox Sports.

“What the hell has happened? We haven’t got a great culture here and we need to turn it around.

“It’s up to this leadership group to turn it around. It’s up to him (Steve Smith) to turn it around and set values.”

Hear hear.

Try telling those wide-eyed youngsters watching on TV that cricket – and sport – isn’t all about winning. “But the Test captain thinks it’s OK to do any means possible to get an advantage,” they say.

Bancroft, the attack dog during the tampering but by no means any less responsible despite his age, did his best impersonation of a puppy on death row when fronting up to the media after the game.

“I’ve got to live with the consequences and the damage it does to my own reputation,” Bancroft said.

Forget that, Cam. What about the rest of us?

You and your 10 mates are representing us bank tellers, garbos, teachers and wideeyed youngsters every time you step onto the pitch.

Today, we are embarrassed.