Custom Bats Cricket Forum
General Cricket => World Cricket => Australia => Topic started by: stamper on March 31, 2021, 03:58:03 PM
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Steve Smith says he "would be keen" to return as Australia captain if the national selectors wanted him.
My opinion - Brass necked, brazen cheat. Shouldn't be a national captain again. And should accept this in interviews.
For balance, he also said "I feel as though I'd be in a better place if the opportunity did come up. If it doesn't, that's fine as well"
Problem is, others are touting Pat Cummins. He also played in the sandpaper test, and if he didn't know what was going on, then call me Bastamper Zuiderent.
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I always think is poor for any player to show interest in skippering when a team mate,current one at that, is doing the job.
Sure he might still have ambition to Captain again but it shows a degree of disrespect for Paine.Paine might be the worse skipper going I really don't know but it's almost irrelevant.
I think this might show us whether the ACB really do say and mean the same thing, a clear out of Smith and Warner from any higher honours than just players.
Smith,Warner and that unfortunate rookie they threw under the bus, Bancroft, all have served their bans, should be allowed to play again and earn a living.
But if they want to clean things up and really change as they said they would, making him skipper again would send the wrong message.
I'm not convinced the ACB really do want a clean up personally and would not be surprised if Smith was back in the frame in the next 12 months
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ACB should come out and say that he will NEVER captain again. They won’t though, and he will.
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Bancroft was thrown under the bus to save the bowling unit. No question the bowlers knew exactly what was going on and had been doing this before the tour of South Africa. Cricket Australia took damage limitation measures to contain the fall pout and were pretty successful in both protecting the results from earlier games and protecting other members of the team from also getting bans.
I fully expect Smith to return as captain. Cricket Australia did the absolute minimum they thought they could get away with and will probably feel that Smith has now been away from the captaincy for the minimum they can get away with
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He should never captain any side at any format for me sends the complete wrong Message in either international or franchise cricket.
Fine that he plays again as a cricketer as anyone can make a mistake etc but somethings come with a life long consequence and this is one of them for me.
Bowlers 100% know or knew what was happening as the amount of time they spend on the ball and what they want players to do to look after it is just nonsense to suggest they knew nothing
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The simple fact is all the ACB will care about is results and especially after getting beaten in their own backyard by India.
So who is best to captain Australia to get on field results, well definitely not Tim Paine! Maybe Pat Cummins but bowlers very rarely make the best captains. So you are left with the obvious answer.... Smith.
This by no means me saying I think he should be able to though!
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I don't think that Smith as a captain could've prevented that loss to India; he is showing poor form by intimating that he'd accept captaincy when there is already a captain, Tim Paine.
I like Tim Paine. He took reigns of a broken side and helped mend it. He should be treated with respect.
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To be fair, this was in response to a very specific question. He’s not going around proactively looking for the job.
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To be fair, this was in response to a very specific question. He’s not going around proactively looking for the job.
So deadbat the question? Massively poor form to just go after it, but then not surprising from Smith.
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Lots of Holier than Thou chat going around - England and India would do the exact same with their marquee players.
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He committed a crime and did the time...if he can be selected and play for the national side, I dont understand why cant he be chosen to lead them again.
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Bancroft was thrown under the bus to save the bowling unit. No question the bowlers knew exactly what was going on and had been doing this before the tour of South Africa. Cricket Australia took damage limitation measures to contain the fall pout and were pretty successful in both protecting the results from earlier games and protecting other members of the team from also getting bans.
I fully expect Smith to return as captain. Cricket Australia did the absolute minimum they thought they could get away with and will probably feel that Smith has now been away from the captaincy for the minimum they can get away with
The thing is, the issue for me is not really about the crime itself - as disgusting and blatant a piece of cheating as it was, we all know that other teams have done things that may not be as bad but equally are not a million miles away in the past.
The real issues are:
1. The team culture that allowed them to throw Bancroft under the bus. In any other walk of life we'd call it bullying.
2. The horrendous sooking when he returned home in disgrace. I'm sorry, that was beyond pathetic.
Personally, I'd have liked him banned for life. But in any event, such an appalling human being should be allowed nowhere near the captaincy of a test side
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"Appalling human being" is a bit much, he cheated to try and win a game, he wasn't even match fixing for profit let alone doing something worth of being labelled an awful human being...
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The thing is, the issue for me is not really about the crime itself - as disgusting and blatant a piece of cheating as it was, we all know that other teams have done things that may not be as bad but equally are not a million miles away in the past.
The real issues are:
1. The team culture that allowed them to throw Bancroft under the bus. In any other walk of life we'd call it bullying.
2. The horrendous sooking when he returned home in disgrace. I'm sorry, that was beyond pathetic.
Personally, I'd have liked him banned for life. But in any event, such an appalling human being should be allowed nowhere near the captaincy of a test side
My comment was really a reflection of my view that he will captain again rather than a judgement as to whether he should.
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Lots of Holier than Thou chat going around - England and India would do the exact same with their marquee players.
Respectfully disagree.
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I'll start off by saying Steve Smith has always been one of my most loathed cricketers. His attitude and behaviour has always gone against my own values.
However, I believe he deserves to be treated as someone who is trying to change his ways and that he is no longer the person he once was (Leadership wise and attitude). I truely believe that if he was to lead again that he would do it in a way that supports their "new ethos". If he didn't he would be destroyed by the media and fans. I believe that he has a lot to offer the team as captain and would help the younger team members become better people. Most of all I believe that he would now display an attitude expected by the Australian people.
He cheated and that will be his legacy but so many other athletes have as well (Some have been forgiven, some not). If the best thing for all involved is him captaining the side again then I have no problem with it. If he stuffs up again then I will change my opinion to the majority here.
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How many people on here have let's say have certain sweets in there mouth when shining the ball.
I have no issues guy made a mistake and paid for it how many can say they never done something they know is wrong in sports or life in general.
Live and let live is my theory I'm more worried about the amazing bat prices by the vast majority of bat makers !!!!
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If you take the ball tampering bit on its own, he and the other Aussies are not the first and won't be the last. It covers just about all teams at some point....so Smith does not deserve to be hung for that-us supporters of other national teams would be hypocrites if we said so.
It's what they did after being caught which made it far worse, if they had owed up, yeah we did it to get the ball to swing or whatever, then the get a telling off and a ban or fine, no massive deal.
They lied to the on field umpire by saying they were using a sunglasses cloth to shine the ball.
They then in a press conference denied using sandpaper and made absolute mugs out of the worlds media who wanted an explanation for what they saw.
They absolutely threw Bancroft under the bus as a rookie player and let him take the flak....lets be honest..NO BOWLERS got done here. I can't believe there is anyone on this forum who actually believes the bowlers did not know what was going on.
Then having been found out Smith, Warner and whoever else cried in press conferences to try to get public sympathy.
It was absolutely pathetic.
The crime (ball tampering), was not the biggest problem, it's the lies, trying to cover it up,misleading the umpire and ending Bancrofts international career as he was 'disposable'.
If an England player had done all the above I can honestly say hand on heart as a supporter whoever it was should never represent the Country again.
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If you take the ball tampering bit on its own, he and the other Aussies are not the first and won't be the last. It covers just about all teams at some point....so Smith does not deserve to be hung for that-us supporters of other national teams would be hypocrites if we said so.
It's what they did after being caught which made it far worse, if they had owed up, yeah we did it to get the ball to swing or whatever, then the get a telling off and a ban or fine, no massive deal.
They lied to the on field umpire by saying they were using a sunglasses cloth to shine the ball.
They then in a press conference denied using sandpaper and made absolute mugs out of the worlds media who wanted an explanation for what they saw.
They absolutely threw Bancroft under the bus as a rookie player and let him take the flak....lets be honest..NO BOWLERS got done here. I can't believe there is anyone on this forum who actually believes the bowlers did not know what was going on.
Then having been found out Smith, Warner and whoever else cried in press conferences to try to get public sympathy.
It was absolutely pathetic.
The crime (ball tampering), was not the biggest problem, it's the lies, trying to cover it up,misleading the umpire and ending Bancrofts international career as he was 'disposable'.
If an England player had done all the above I can honestly say hand on heart as a supporter whoever it was should never represent the Country again.
Sort of like how most proven sports cheats/criminals try to deny any wrong doing. Lance Armstrong, Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson et al. I'm not defending it but it is human nature.
It's not right but most people do it just like most of us have cheated in a sports match.
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Sort of like how most proven sports cheats/criminals try to deny any wrong doing. Lance Armstrong, Mike Tyson, OJ Simpson et al. I'm not defending it but it is human nature.
It's not right but most people do it just like most of us have cheated in a sports match.
Yes very true.
The Lance Armstrong documentary on BBC was educational I’ll put it that way.
Perhaps money has a role with high profile sportsmen, there is a lot at stake at top level sport
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How many people on here have let's say have certain sweets in there mouth when shining the ball.
I have no issues guy made a mistake and paid for it how many can say they never done something they know is wrong in sports or life in general.
Live and let live is my theory I'm more worried about the amazing bat prices by the vast majority of bat makers !!!!
Exactly. Well said.
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as a captain, even if he had nothing to do with the ball tampering he would still hold the responsibility for it. i think he's served his punishment for this and should now be considered for captaincy when it comes around again.
My thoughts at the time, and havent changed since, were that Warner and the Bowlers were the ring leaders of all of it. Warner didnt want to get caught as there was already suspicion on him so pressured Bancroft into taking the job.
There is no possible way that Smith, Bancroft and Warner were the only people aware of it, but proving that is another thing entirely.
I believe Smith took the blame, as captain, but that the version of events they came up with was a load of rubbish. i think he found out afterwards and tried to protect Bancroft, nobody would protect Warner hes a grade A helm.
How the bowlers got away with it i have no idea, i read somewhere that the England team raised the question with match officials in a series shortly before the incident but nothing was done about it.
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"Appalling human being" is a bit much, he cheated to try and win a game, he wasn't even match fixing for profit let alone doing something worth of being labelled an awful human being...
You are of course entitled to your opinion, but I am going to stand square behind my comments. Carlo has kinda explained this at least as well as I could, if not better, so suffice it to say that I'm not reflecting on the blatant cheating as much as the shameless bullying and pathetic sooking.
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The reality is that Smith will be captain again, likely after the Ashes, maybe for the Ashes.
It is irrelevant what we think.
The sanctimonious hypocrisy of the Aussies is legendary.