Gonna post a bit of stuff on this because quite frankly it really p*sses me off to see it happen at the top of the game.
Some excerpts from the news conference with only Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith present in front of the journos.
First off, some clear soundbites given to both of them by their media relations team in the limited time from end of play to conference.
Deeply regrettable (x3)
Won't happen again (x2)
Incredibly sorry
Not proud of (x4)
Learn from/Come back strong from (x3)
It didn't work, the umpires didn't obviously change the ball (x2)
The last one, really annoys me. Wtf does it matter if it worked or not?
Now some individual quotes from both in response to questions from the journos.
CB: "On myself I saw an opportunity to use some [sticky] tape...get some granules from the rough patches on the wicket...and try to change the ball condition"
SS: "The leadership group knew about it. We spoke about it over lunch."
SS: "It's not what the Australian cricket team's about."
Q: "Would you regret it if you hadn't been caught?" SS:"I think deep down I would." "If we weren't caught, I'd feel incredibly bad about it."
CB:"I was in the wrong place at the wrong time"
CB:"[No, I didn't feel coerced to do it]I was in the vicinity of the area when the leadership group were discussing it"
SS: "I won't be considering stepping down, I still think I'm the right person for the job"
So, it's murky about how it was arranged. Did the "management group" who SS wouldn't name but highly likely to include poor little Davey Warner, ask CB to do it? Or did CB volunteer? One of the journos suggested that it was established practice in the Aussie team to get the newer, younger players to do certain things. Nice culture.
"It's not what the Australian cricket team's about" - But it 100% is. One of the players did it, with approval from the team's leadership group.
SS, who feels he's the right guy to carry on the captaincy, says he regrets it deep down. Does this mean not deep down he'd be ok with it? And he would only feel "incredibly bad" if they hadn't got caught. As opposed to what I would hope for from a Captain - It would be unacceptable, and I would notify the appropriate authorities asap.
Overall, as I've said, this really annoys me. I know that other teams have tried various methods some more bizarre, some more brazen. So the Aussies aren't on their own. However, sometimes, an example has to be made for the overall good of the game and I think it's the time.
What would I do?
Ban the Aussie team for a year from International matches. I read recently that the Associate teams have almost no matches now that the WCQ is over which will affect their improving performances greatly, and slow up any momentum in growing the game worldwide. So they can step in.
Smith gets permanent ban from Captaincy all forms, Bancroft a 2 year ban from International matches all forms.
If the punishment is not severe (demerit points, match fee fines etc), what's to stop Aussies or the other teams from doing it again.
Rant over.
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Topic: Sa vs aus (Read 106909 times)