Yeah
Nah
Michael Clarke has said he might consider coming back as captain if asked by the right people. Has he even played since he retired. Come on. I know our middle order is weak, but that would be ridiculous.
People comparing this to England and other countries using mints and lollies lol
A 1 game ban is fair for Bancroft. The ones who told him to and pre planned it over lunch should have the book thrown at him should be severely punished.
If Lehman really sent the 12th man out to get Bancroft to hide it he is an even bigger POS than I thought
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Lol. You get the feeling Clarke is loving this. Hasnāt resisted taking a shot at smith since he retired
Clark is just a flog
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100% agree with this. Itās not the end of the world. The intention was there by Smith and Bancroft but it didnāt change the course of the game and the umpireās kept the ball. Itās bad, but the reaction we are seeing is around the moral implications rather than the game implications.
EDIT: The key question for me is - is ball tampering cheating?
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Yes.
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At what point - when it changes the course of the game OR just by initiating the action to ball tamper?
Itās universally considered cheating at every level of cricket.
Especially at the highest level.
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Time to pull out the Hansie Cronje āThe devil made me do itā defence.
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Iām not disputing that aspect - I accept that itās universally regarded as cheating at every level of cricket. But at what point does it constitute actual cheating? By definition, tampering is āinterfering/meddling in something which causes damage or unauthorised alterationsā so if we accept that to be the definition of tampering - at what point does tampering become cheating? Does the fact that the very stupid (and amateur) plan by the Australian cricketers failed come into consideration?
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The second the ball was tampered with, it was cheating.
Whether it was successful or not is irrelevant, just like all cheating.
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Beheading is not enough. Cut off his head, stitch it back on, reanimate his corpse and do it again.
In all seriousness though, I donāt care how other countries have responded to similar episodes, I think Smithās position as captain is untenable and no other player who took or supported the decision to cheat can replace him. Anyone involved should get sent back home so they can contemplate their actions.
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I think the point is we havenāt (publicly) identified who was involved (despite references to āthe leadership groupā).
I would be surprised if the many previous cases also didnāt involve larger groups ā you donāt want random tampering, you want to work to a goal for specific bowlers and the team.
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When every other country denies and lies?
I think we should do away with picking cricketers and just pick 11 professors of ethics
Smith has to lose the captaincy, Bancroft has to go. Iām not convinced on anything else.
So would I. But theyāve come out and admitted it. I donāt they they properly thought through the ramifications of doing this.
First rule of cheating, donāt get caught !
Seriously how stupid are these guys to do this when everyone is watching. Putting the moral issue to one side for just a moment, these āmenā are dumb, childish and this antic is something you did as a kid when you didnāt know any better.
Now that said, any penalty should be judged with the sevity of the crime. Loss of the game for a start, and Bancroft get a fine and maybe loss of a game. If it is shown that Smith and Boof put him up to it then both should be fined, Smith loses Captaincy and sorry Boof but see you later.
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Smith has to lose the captaincy.
And maybe a one Test ban from Australia over the one the ICC will give him.
His failures in this incident are many.
Either came up with the idea, or wasnāt strong enough to say no to the coach or other players.
Got the least experienced, most impressionable player to do the deed.
Didnāt try to protect said least experienced player.
Dumped the whole team in it (which they may or may not have deserved, but thatās beside the point, imo).
Just failures of leadership from start to finish.
He canāt captain Australia for a long, long time.
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Why lol?
Same idea/effect, same deliberate planning, ā¦ different device.
I seem to remember a bottle cap being used once, ā¦ fairly sure it was in International cricket.
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What an absolute pack of dickheads, with all the cameras that are used in elite sports that youād get away with something as serious as what they did.
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It doesnāt really matter what other countries do. What it boils down to is Australian cricket has to make a decision that it is happy to live with.
Itās response is going to influence future behaviours. It needs to be strong enough so no Australian player thinks it is a good idea regardless of the circumstances to concoct a plan to tamper with the ball. But it cannot be so strong that it is disproportionate to the crime. The players and management have enough issues with each other already without CA dishing out excessive punishment.