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Hamchan

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
BREAKING: Steve Smith and David Warner have both stepped down as Captain and Vice Captain of Australia with immediate effect.

Nice.

Also Tim Paine went from almost retiring to work at a cricket ball manufacturer to captain of the Australian Cricket Team in the past 6 months.

What a journey for him.
 

choodi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,589
Australia
This is why the incident is so heinous, even when compared to some other recent cheating scandals. The cheating is bad of course, but the level of premeditation and cowardice involved from Australia's "leadership group" in ordering a junior player to actually commit the act is disgusting.

This. Totally this. So gutless and obviously not considering (or caring about) the consequences for a young player's career.

It's also hard to believe Smith's claims that none of the coaching staff were involved and that this was the first time they've cheated in this fashion. Lehmann on the radio during the incident and the coach's comments about reverse swing earlier in the series -- "Obviously, there are techniques used by both sides to get the ball reverse and that's just the way the game goes." -- certainly make me suspicious.

Lehmann has always been an odious cunt, even when he was playing. I have no doubt that he is the root of this.
 

bobnowhere

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,526
Elsewhere for 8 minutes
G6QI3FPPyvLyuTicveleki-2SUAtyVFPioSVt7tiOEs.jpg

Disappointed the NT News didn't somehow get a Crocodile in as well. By all accounts, Newcorp is not going to be pretty tomorrow for the team.
 
Has anybody said/theorized why they'd take such a risk in the first place? I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. It just doesn't seem worth it on any level.

Pros:

Beat SA...?

Cons:

Get caught
Get demoted
Get fined
Taint integrity of the sport
Taint reputation of team
Taint personal legacy
Ruin career
Embarrass self
Embarrass country
Etc., etc.

With all the cameras around you'd almost certainly be caught, so just...why? I haven't been following this test/the sport very closely this year, so maybe I've missed some all-consuming need to win this game, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense. This couldn't have just been about all the stupid sledging going on, right?
 

Window

Member
Oct 27, 2017
8,282
With modern TV coverage it has definitely become more difficult to perform ball tampering but as some others have said, maybe this is not an isolated incident and maybe Australia aren't the only team who engage in this sort of behaviour and because people had not been caught so obviously red handed up until now, the team believed this time wouldn't be any different. In terms of damage to reputation, Du Plessis the current SA captain has been found guilty of ball tampering twice till now but he seems to be doing fine. In this case the incident blew up in a way I don't think the team ever expected even if they had considered the risks of being found out. The difference I suppose is that once caught in the act, the blatant poor attempts at coverups and the admission that this was a planned decision made by the team's leadership make it seems like a deep rooted systemic issue and not something limited to an individual acting of their own accord (which to be honest, is probably never the case either).
 
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GestaltGaz

Member
Oct 28, 2017
1,991
As an aussie fan I'm gutted. Totally betrayed. We don't cheat at sport and I'm fucking pissed at Lehmann, Smith, Warner, Bancroft and the whole team. They should be sacked straight away and let's give some younger players a go and start to rebuild. What a fucking joke.
 

Rezbit

Member
Oct 26, 2017
748
From Cricinfo:

Breaking news: Steven Smith has been suspended for one Test by the ICC

A follow-up to that ICC news. Smith has been fined 100% of his match fee. Bancroft 75%, and picks up three demerit points. Like I said, the ICC's powers are weak where this issue is concerned...

Wet lettuce ICC strikes again?
 

whatsinaname

Member
Oct 25, 2017
15,051
Has anybody said/theorized why they'd take such a risk in the first place? I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. It just doesn't seem worth it on any level.

Pros:

Beat SA...?

Cons:

Get caught
Get demoted
Get fined
Taint integrity of the sport
Taint reputation of team
Taint personal legacy
Ruin career
Embarrass self
Embarrass country
Etc., etc.

With all the cameras around you'd almost certainly be caught, so just...why? I haven't been following this test/the sport very closely this year, so maybe I've missed some all-consuming need to win this game, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense. This couldn't have just been about all the stupid sledging going on, right?

I don't think they thought about it that rationally, just a case of boiling the frog. Clearly they have been pushing boundaries for a while and thought they were under the radar. (DRS incident, Bancroft in the Ashes). So they took that next step. This incident might also not have been caught if the series was at home. You don't go from no cheating to sand on sticky tape. Just reflects on the mentality of the 'leadership group'.
 

kilner

Member
Oct 28, 2017
200
Has anybody said/theorized why they'd take such a risk in the first place? I'm still trying to wrap my head around that. It just doesn't seem worth it on any level.

Pros:

Beat SA...?

Cons:

Get caught
Get demoted
Get fined
Taint integrity of the sport
Taint reputation of team
Taint personal legacy
Ruin career
Embarrass self
Embarrass country
Etc., etc.

With all the cameras around you'd almost certainly be caught, so just...why? I haven't been following this test/the sport very closely this year, so maybe I've missed some all-consuming need to win this game, but it just doesn't seem to make any sense. This couldn't have just been about all the stupid sledging going on, right?

It might just be that simple, actually. Lehmann and Smith seem to have amped up the sledging culture of the team. Radaba is the ultimate trigger to bruise their egos. Oh, and they've probably done it before and gotten away with it too.
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,523
As if the punishment is the same that Smith would get for being behind the over-rate for a couple of games, ridiculous.
 

Steverulez

Member
Oct 27, 2017
1,416
Knew it was only a matter of time before this article came up, wonder if we will bother pushing on it. Hard to believe this is the first time really

Cameron Bancroft roused England suspicions of ball-tampering during Ashes

Concerns centred on David Warner polishing the ball at mid-off but the only time anything remotely suspicious was picked up on camera involved Cameron Bancroft in the fifth Test in Sydney.

He was seen spooning sugar into his hand and then putting it in his pocket before going on the pitch. Sugar granules could be used as an abrasive to help scuff up the ball, but the matter was explained away at the time as an innocent way of a player taking an energy boost on the field in hot, strength-sapping conditions.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/cricket...used-england-suspicions-ball-tampering-ashes/
 

jambo

Member
Oct 25, 2017
714
ABC News needs to chill

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EDIT: This is the main home page btw
 
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I don't think they thought about it that rationally, just a case of boiling the frog. Clearly they have been pushing boundaries for a while and thought they were under the radar. (DRS incident, Bancroft in the Ashes). So they took that next step. This incident might also not have been caught if the series was at home. You don't go from no cheating to sand on sticky tape. Just reflects on the mentality of the 'leadership group'.

So you think it's endemic. Like diving in soccer kind of? They just see it like strategy. I guess Smith did say everyone does it for 'advantage'. That's pretty effing lame. Makes me not want to watch it anymore.

It might just be that simple, actually. Lehmann and Smith seem to have amped up the sledging culture of the team. Radaba is the ultimate trigger to bruise their egos. Oh, and they've probably done it before and gotten away with it too.

A bit of sledging, fine, that just seems to be a guy thing in sports and can be ignored, but the level it's gotten to (the pettiness, the wife thing) coupled with apparent normalized cheating is just a huge turnoff. I don't like the burn and raze it to the ground approach that seems to be the popular option these days, but I don't see how they're going to correct this now (i.e. keep/bring back fans) unless they let the 'leadership' group go. Am I overestimating the damage? Are people OK with just a few suspensions/fines? I know Faf seemed to have gotten past his own cheating instances just fine and still plays. I don't know if I'll tune in again except for T-20 now, though.
 

bomma man

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,068
Compared to, say, match fixing, ball tampering is not seen as all that serious. A lot of players, English in particular, are loving this, but they did it too in 2005. The difference this time is that it's the holier than thou Australians doing it, and they admitted it was planned and institutional. Tbh it's something that should be legal, within limits.
 

choodi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,589
Australia
This is entirely about the holier-than-thou attitude of the Aussies rather than that they tried to cheat.

It's the equivalent of a politician who runs on a "traditional family values" platform getting busted cheating on his wife.
 
Compared to, say, match fixing, ball tampering is not seen as all that serious. A lot of players, English in particular, are loving this, but they did it too in 2005. The difference this time is that it's the holier than thou Australians doing it, and they admitted it was planned and institutional. Tbh it's something that should be legal, within limits.

Yeah, their attitude certainly made everything way more glaring and it blew up (deservedly so, it seems), but you think it should be legal? Why can't they just play as is? I really hate sneaky stuff like this and diving and have always found it strange that ppl are cool with it. I know it probably only results in a slight advantage if any, so is that why you're ok with it (in general)?

This is entirely about the holier-than-thou attitude of the Aussies rather than that they tried to cheat.

It's the equivalent of a politician who runs on a "traditional family values" platform getting busted cheating on his wife.

Are you of the same opinion as bomma man, then? About the legality point?

Going after Australia's most important news organisation now.



Aren't they a parody site? Seems like their usual according to the husband.
 

choodi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,589
Australia
Are you of the same opinion as bomma man, then? About the legality point?
Nope. It's illegal and they shouldn't do it.

The thing I have always loved about cricket is the concept of playing "in the spirit of the game" which is why I've had a strong dislike of the Australian team for a long time.

"Everyone does it" is not a good reason to change the rules. What they need to do is enforce the rules properly and start handing out some serious punishments. A 12-month suspension should make people think twice about using tape or a sugary mint to gain an advantage.
 

bomma man

Member
Oct 25, 2017
3,068
Reverse swing is great to watch, so I'd like it to happen. Under the current rules, it's very hard for it to naturally happen. They should, at the very least, be able to bounce the ball off the pitch to scuff it up a bit. The degrading ball is one of cricket's lovely eccentricities - i don't think we should be blunting it.
 

legend166

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,113
Yeah, I think a lot of the reaction comes from basically two places:

- From the Australian public, this weird perception that we as Australians are actually above this kind of thing and that it's us that gets to look down on the other countries that cheat like this. So everyone within Australian is hurling their righteousness indignation based on that fact.

- From the international cricket public, there's a real sense of Australians finally getting their comeuppance. Finally, here's something concrete and cannot be explained away - the Australians were caught red-headed cheating. Of course, there's a huge amount of hypocrisy coming from these people too (Faf has been done twice for ball tampering, Atherton as well, etc). Of course, the difference here is that Steve Smith bizarrely admitted to everyone that it was a planned action by the senior members of the team.

Without downplaying the seriousness of it all, I do think the reaction has been a little bit over the top. But I agree with what some of the media commentators have said - here's actually a chance to start fresh and try and institute the cultural change within the Australian cricket set up that it desperately needs.

I think looking back, a lot of this really started with the sacking of Mickey Arthur and how that all went down. Arthur was trying to institute some discipline and instead, Cricket Australia backed the players.
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,523
Reverse swing is great to watch, so I'd like it to happen. Under the current rules, it's very hard for it to naturally happen. They should, at the very least, be able to bounce the ball off the pitch to scuff it up a bit. The degrading ball is one of cricket's lovely eccentricities - i don't think we should be blunting it.

Agree with that 100%
 

Hamchan

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
I'll say that I've always subscribed to the "hard but fair" playing style of the Australian team. I kinda don't give a shit if the teams all sledge each other to hell. Heck, it makes it more entertaining. I do get annoyed when the team starts whining when they receive the same back, because if you give it you should be able to take it (especially since they've gone through the whole Australia cricket system since young so they should be used to it!), but generally I'm ok with the aggressive style of play. It's just words after all and you have other sports around the world that get physical instead.

But now we're apparently "hard and also cheaters". That's not on. I think the concept of a "fair go" has been banged into our brains since young and there's such national pride in our team, who is supposed to represent our fairness, that the reaction to these cheating cunts is unsurprising from the whole of Australia, as it's against our whole sporting culture.

They absolutely deserve the reaction right now and deserve their social cruxifiction. They've sullied the source of national pride. They've sullied the legacy of the position that many better men before them have held. They've sullied the position that nearly every young kid who has played cricket in Australia has dreamt of being in. Honestly, fuck them.
 

bobnowhere

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,526
Elsewhere for 8 minutes
Aren't they a parody site? Seems like their usual according to the husband.

They are basically The Onion but clearly they said something in a podcast that upset CA.

No sign of any players leaving the Shield final early. Tassie have put a tempting declaration on the table to try and force, an unlikely, result in the final. I suspect at least two of Burns, Renshaw and Bailey will be on the plane shortly after.
 

Hamchan

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
I wonder if Renshaw is seeing it as a blessing to have not been picked for the Ashes now.

Lad could have been in the position poor Bancroft is in.
 

bobnowhere

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,526
Elsewhere for 8 minutes
Looks like Bancroft might play, Renshaw->Warner and Handscomb for Smith. Does seem to imply they are viewing the potential bullying of Bancroft into tampering as an even more serious breach. That, of course, ignores any potential sugar tampering in Sydney.
 

Joe Spangle

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,845
but I don't see how they're going to correct this now (i.e. keep/bring back fans) unless they let the 'leadership' group go. Am I overestimating the damage? Are people OK with just a few suspensions/fines? I know Faf seemed to have gotten past his own cheating instances just fine and still plays. I don't know if I'll tune in again except for T-20 now, though.

Smith has got a 1 match ban? is that right? I think there has to be more punishment to follow surely. I know its a different type of incident but Ben Stokes had an off the field scrap and as a result wasn't taken to the Ashes, the most import series in English sport.
 
Oct 25, 2017
7,523
Smith has got a 1 match ban? is that right? I think there has to be more punishment to follow surely. I know its a different type of incident but Ben Stokes had an off the field scrap and as a result wasn't taken to the Ashes, the most import series in English sport.

That was on the ECB, not the ICC. The ICC punishment was lenient for sure, I expected at least a couple of games but it was never likely to be more than that, the real punishment will come from the Australian board.
 

bobnowhere

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,526
Elsewhere for 8 minutes
Smith has got a 1 match ban? is that right? I think there has to be more punishment to follow surely. I know its a different type of incident but Ben Stokes had an off the field scrap and as a result wasn't taken to the Ashes, the most import series in English sport.


He has a one match ban from the ICC as that's all they can really do. There will be far more serious consequences from Cricket Australia sometime in the next 12 hours.

Latest rumours are that Warner was the "brains" of the operation, persuading Bancroft to take part, without Smith's knowledge and Smith covered for him at the press conference. The whole team apparently hates Warner now.
 

Joe Spangle

Member
Nov 1, 2017
1,845
Ah i see.

Edit - Looks like Smith, Warner and Bancroft have been sent home from SA
 
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Hamchan

The Fallen
Oct 25, 2017
4,964
Cricket Australia seem like spineless cunts.

Having only the three players take the blame while Lehmann gets off scott free.

No no no no no, my fellow Aussies that are waking up are going to still be pissed off at this result.
 

bobnowhere

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,526
Elsewhere for 8 minutes
No more OLEDs for Warner, he's been dumped by LG.

While I have no doubt Lehman has fostered a win at all costs mantra, cricket has always been a little different when it comes to who holds the balance of power in the changeroom. The Captain is the one in charge, the coach serves him unlike in, say, football codes.
 
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bobnowhere

Member
Oct 26, 2017
2,526
Elsewhere for 8 minutes
Doubt Warner will ever play for Australia again, he seems to have lost the trust of the rest of the team. Bancroft won't either, no need to bring back the memories when Renshaw will likely be the greatest player of his generation. :P

Smith will return after a serious of tell-all tearjerker TV interviews, he'll never captain again.

Also Paine is apparently now the fulltime captain, what an extraordinary story.
 

choodi

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
1,589
Australia
If the only long-term change out of this sorry saga is that David Warner never plays cricket for Australia again, it will be a good result.