For the longest time, the Australian cricket team ruled the roost; a formidable, cohesive side full of talented, aggressive and focused men. The team has been in decline for a while now; the current lot seeming to be a shadow of its former tough, unbeatable-looking self. Now firmly in the middle of a ball-tampering scandal, the Australian cricket team appears to have reached a nadir of sorts. It is high drama, with public apologies and tears, much hand-wringing and a lot of garnered sympathy. In all this, are we losing sight of the fact that this is just not cricket?
Before the ball tampering scandal hit the headlines, Australian captain Steve Smith had denied ball tampering charges. At the time it was alleged that he used lip balm (a banned substance) on the ball. He said it was spit. “It’s the way I get spit from the side of my mouth and on the ball,” The Guardian quoted him as saying.
It was a deliberate, preplanned ploy by the Australian team to lift the seam of the ball to try and win the Cape Town test match. The footage caught by several of about 30 cameras was clear: Cameron Bancroft was clearly seen rubbing the ball with yellow tape; it was clearly a message from the dressing room relayed by the 12th man that had Bancroft slipping the tape into his trousers.
Following this was a deliberate lie to the umpire; the bowler’s actions sought to be explained away as ‘cleaning cloth for dark glasses’. This was a clear case of cheating planned in advance and involving several of the players and probably the coach, followed by lying and attempts to cover up the cheating. The captain ‘came clean’ later about the plot hatched by a ‘leadership group during lunch'.
The Australian cricketers are currently displaying remorse and public hand wringing of Bollywood-esque proportions. Coach Darren Lehmann, Captain Steve Smith and Vice Captain David Warner have all appeared repentant and teary eyed at press conferences.
There is one view that such blatant cheating ought to be punished with a life ban; that the one year ban of Smith and Warner and the 9 month ban of Bancroft is too lenient.
The other view is that ball tampering is nothing new – past greats such as Sachin Tendulkar, Mike Atherton, Inzamam ul-Haq, Faf du Plessis have been accused of ball tampering in the past, without being handed out such penalties. In his column, former player Shane Warne said that he was "shocked and disgusted" by the "premeditated cheating" in Cape Town but added that the reaction was hysterical and out of proportion.
In the past, the Australian players have made holier-than-thou statements about cheating; as this rather ironical 2016 statement by Warner indicates. The fact that they were caught cheating themselves seems to have given a lot of cricket followers cause for much glee at what can be seen as well deserved comeuppance.
This is a fact. It wasn’t just because they ruthlessly dominated world cricket in the past. The Aussie team has frequently displayed some unattractive characteristics: their consistent and aggressive sledging, their win-at-all-costs attitude, their swagger and the fact that they were never graceful winners or losers. This hasn’t made them popular in the way, say the West Indies were popular during their heyday.
The abject, miserable Australian players breaking down in full view of the world press and cricket followers everywhere, has evoked two reactions. One reaction is that this is so much drama for the camera; an attempt to garner sympathy and absolution from fans. The other reaction is that the players “owned up”, accepted their mistake and apologized unreservedly; as such should be shown leniancy.
This is all well and good, but the question begs to be asked is – would the Aussies have come clean if the cameras hadn’t well and truly caught them cheating? Would we still have seen the copious tears and the public apology and self flagellation if the Aussies had not got caught? Would the Aussies have done it again?
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