[Santoshbhat]

Originally Posted by srishiva

I agree that this has become huge compared to other past incidents because they accepted it. Previous incidents always had that feeling of not proven 100% guilt and maybe (for whoever supports them) it was accidental

Yeah they had no choice since the video evidence was too strong. Some media commentators were lamenting at the stupidity of the method adopted rather than the act itself. They were like "using a bright yellow sandpaper to rough up the ball in front of 40 odd high definition zoom cameras. How stupid is that?!!"

To be honest tampering the ball is nothing new. When you allow players to 'work on the ball' , you are are creating a very grey area. Players have used finger nails, peppermint + saliva combo, deodorant + sweat combo, pant zipper edges, shoe spikes, teeth to rough up the ball in the past. Smith just went and dipped his brush into thick black paint and got caught.

[nilanjanray]

Me thinks there is a media spin to make Warner the villain, and give Smith a short sabbatical (''naive + nice guy who went with it, repentant', never again''), and make him come back soon. The flurry of articles that are recently carrying the same theme is a little...suspicious.

In Australia - tiny country (in terms of population and world influence) - media and CA interests go hand in hand. Who knows, CA might still ban Mr. Firsttime Brainfade for an year. Hope so. Let's see. But if not, I won't be surprised to see all Anglosphere media change their tune and come up with well written articles focusing on 50 shades of grey. E.g. re how Tendulkar did it, and why Smith shouldn't suffer.

For folks who are not familiar with such media. Suppose there are 10 shades of grey between B & W. Depending on the situation, journos and artiicles and BTL posters (from the usual countries) would focus on:

1. How there were 50 shades of grey, and why the subcontinental perpetrator is a villain. E.g. how different shade 2 is from shade 49

2. How it is all the same. No shades, just binary. E.g. DRSgate. If it can't be proved, it didn't happen. Mistake made one time, can happen to anyone. Move on! Kohli is a villain for alleging that the spotless Aussie cricket team did it more than once. (The interesting thing here is, how journalists connive with the Aussie team and do a PR blitz to target the opposition).

Read the articles written over the last few years. Same authors - widely 'respected' - change their tunes because they know who butters their bread.

As I said. The hypocrisy is hilarious.

What happened to all the 'Delhi belly/India is shit' media spins once IPL became the most lucrative gig in Cricket? And yes, the media/cricketers - typically Aus/Eng - used to propagate that 'tough posting - e.g. like an Army guy in Siachen' theme even when foreign cricketers were staying in 5 star hotels in India. All became silent after IPL once Aus/Eng folks started lining up to sign. And Eng media still continued, putting down IPL. Till some of their players got a chance to participate. Then they changed their tune.

I wonder why folks can't see the sheer hypocrisy from some of the so called greatest cricket journos in the world.

With due apologies to all the Macaulaylets (if you know what I mean), I am so glad that today India is strong enough to laugh at certain boards/media/folks who were following the same script for so many decades. Kohli has the right attitude (just a logical progression after Ganguly/Dhoni). When some Aussie legend said something about not respecting Kohli (after his allegations re DRS), Kohli said 'Ïndia has 1.2 billion people, doesn't matter if someone from another country doesn't respect'. And he gave it back to Healy, pointing out Healy's tantrums which were available on Youtube.

Go dude!

[Sawyer]

CA prove to be unable to see beyond their little world of process and management double speak and anodynes.

After a lot of fanfare, all that Sutherland did yesterday was only what the equivalent of the sports ministry in Australia had on Sunday said should be done right away, in parallel to the investigation process. Perhaps there has not been enough time to declare who should be sanctioned and in what manner, but it is equally strange that there was however enough time for Sutherland to definitively say that:
1. Lehmann was not involved
2. No other player was involved, than the shamed three

He was also not able to bring himself to say the Cheat word, in spite of repeated questions in that direction. If there was one time there is no need to hesitate in saying that what has happened was cheating it is now; but he used the same clever words invoking integrity and spirit of cricket in the same way that Smith did in his infamous press meet. Pathetic.

I have to feel much more sorry for Smith than I did till last night. Seeing Sutherland dance around the subject, it is very clear that Smith's real crimes were not what was done, but in allowing what was done to be done so stupidly, and then compounding this by what he did say. It is now clear that all he should have done to get away with it was keep as quiet as Lehmann has; in that case only Bancroft would have been axed because TV had captured his shame. Smith should also not carry the can after being brought up in the culture crafted by CA and any sanction on Smith will have to matched or exceeded by sanctions on those that created that culture, if there is to be justice in this world. Which admittedly is rarely the case.

The true offenders now are clearly seen to be CA and Sutherland.

As to Lehmann, for crimes like these in the corporate world the CEO is always guilty of one of two serious lapses: either for sanctioning the crime, or for being ignorant of what is happening in his organisation. Either is enough to get marching orders.

More popcorn may be bought - this story still has legs because CA has abysmally failed in starting the process of putting it down.

Every MBA course these days teaches disaster management, including managing of public perceptions consequent to any such. I am very sure that this episode is going to add very valuable material to case studies used to learn from in future, with the irony being that Sutherland is probably running on legal+MBA sourced advice.

[suresh_gs]

Originally Posted by Santoshbhat

To be honest tampering the ball is nothing new. When you allow players to 'work on the ball' , you are are creating a very grey area. Players have used finger nails, peppermint + saliva combo, deodorant + sweat combo, pant zipper edges, shoe spikes, teeth to rough up the ball in the past. Smith just went and dipped his brush into thick black paint and got caught.

Yes, Ball tampering is not something new. Imran Khan and Sarfraz Nawaz exploited this to the fullest extent against India in the 82-83 series in Pakistan. Then we had the infamous "vaseline" series between India and England where John Lever was the beneficiary.
In the above 2 incidents, allegations were made but there was no strong evidence. But this time Steve Smith and Bancroft were caught red handed courtesy the video coverage. Probably this is due to Smith's brain fade, I guess

[comfortablynumb]

Best (humorous) articles I've read so far on the ball tampering fiasco

https://www.kingcricket.co.uk/

Cheers,
Vikram

[PPS]

Originally Posted by nilanjanray

Warner the villain, and give Smith a short sabbatical

I would be very surprised if Cricket Australia do hand out a 1yr ban to Smith & Warner. With the World Cup 2019 starting in May they would ideally want these 2 important players to have some match time before that, so a few months of ban is looking more likely.

[Sawyer]

When you see what is happening now, it is just like a mob that catches a petty thief on the street; every one wants to get in at least one blow.

Even the British PM and the Australian Foreign Minister lined up to do that. Hilarious.

The most hilarious so far?
This:
"Indian Premier League founder Lahit Modi, who was banned from cricket in 2014 for misconduct, called for Sutherland to leave the post he's occupied for 17 years.
"Sad but the snake on top needs to go. We made that happen in India. Let's see if (CA) has guts," he posted." It takes brass balls to say this, grant the man those for sure.

Vijay Mallya next. After all he is a franchise owner, so entitled to get his chappal in as well.

[srishiva]

For all the criticism being thrown at CA, I believe they are doing better than any other boards. They have been seeing lots of pressure from around the world and in Australia too. I have only seen other boards supporting their players.
Although, its nice to see them being under so much pressure

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by srishiva

For all the criticism being thrown at CA, I believe they are doing better than any other boards. They have been seeing lots of pressure from around the world and in Australia too. I have only seen other boards supporting their players.

What they also face is a strong ACA - the players association - that has not waited to say that players cannot be punished in isolation so it won't be surprising to see such sanctions opposed in court - both Smith and Warner have money to spare for lawyers.
This is probably the reason for all of Sutherland's fancy footwork to dance around the issue to the extent possible at this time, to not get exposed to claims in future.

[saurabh2711]

Read this on MSN.

Warner resigned as SRH Captain:

Link as follows:

http://www.msn.com/en-in/sports/ipl/...RVN&ocid=ientp

Extracts as follows: "All copyrights to original author".
Just a copy paste.

David Warner has stepped down as SunRisers Hyderabad captain in light of the ball-tampering controversy that rocked Australian cricket over the last few days. Warner along with Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were found guilty by Cricket Australia in their preliminary investigations. All three players were sent home from South Africa and they now await sanctions.

SRH mentor VVS Laxman had made it clear that they would wait for Cricket Australia's decision on Warner, who was forced to step down as Australia's vice-captain for the last two days of the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town.

After CA CEO James Sutherland's press-conference on Tuesday, Warner decided to step down from the post but a replacement has not yet been announced. On Monday, Steve Smith stepped down as captain of Rajasthan Royals. It is almost certain both Warner and Smith will miss IPL 2018 as they face at long bans from Cricket Australia.

[Oxy]

I am not sure how Sutherland expects fans to buy this lie that Lehmann didn't know anything about this. Hilarious to say the least.

[shashank.nk]

As expected, Warner and Steve Smith banned for 12m by CA and Bancroft for 9 months. No news yet on Lehmann. I don't believe he was unaware of the plan, that's just not possible.

[arvind71181]

Smith and Warner banned for 12 months. Source: Cricinfo

Edit: Bancroft for 9 months

And Lehmann, nothing!!!

[hemanth.anand]

Good for Australia that it happened now. even with an year's ban, Smith ans Warner can still make a comeback for the 2019 ODI world cup. After 1 year, they'll have 2 months to get ready. Bancroft will have a good 5 months. All this if they are still better than others available at that time

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by hemanth.anand

Smith ans Warner can still make a comeback for the 2019 ODI world cup. After 1 year, they'll have 2 months to get ready. Bancroft will have a good 5 months. All this if they are still better than others available at that time

Presumably they can't play any cricket so it won't be that easy to walk back into the team; I would expect they will have to get runs in domestic cricket first. In 12 months, their places in the country eleven will be filled and will not just be gifted back.

India better start getting ready from now; it would be intolerable to again lose to a ban affected Aussie team.

Lehmann ought to get his dues soon if there is justice in the world. Because ignorance is not bliss where he stands.

And a very admirable piece of writing that informs all Australians that they are as responsible for this mess as are Smith and Warner. It underlines the thought that a country's sportsmen are not only its ambassadors, but are also cast in the same mould as that country's sports fans.

https://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/spo...28-p4z6s2.html

There are many decent Australians that do not believe that Ugly is Beautiful.