Cricket-Match-Special ... A forum for discussion

Personally, I'd have gone with 6-9ish month bans, whatever puts them out of the (Aussie) winter tours and IPL. Allow them to come back for the next domestic season.

There are a few elements to the severity of the ban. It includes the stain on Australian cricket's image, and the in-progress media/broadcast negotiations. Then there's also the post-day press conference where they tried to come clean - there were a couple of statements that were misleading and the press release today says this was deliberate. That may well have turned the ban from 6 months to 1 year.

Overall, just one massive screw up and something cricket doesn't need. Whatever people think of Warner he's a damn good cricketer and Smith is just ridiculously good. It's a shame that they've screwed up their careers like this. Not beyond redemption, they can still add to their Test caps but how much will this change how they're remembered?

budgetmeansbudget wrote:At the end of the day it's another nail in the coffin of test cricket.

Although it has flushed out a lot of people who care, which is quite heartening. I didn't think this would be a news story in the UK, but it's everywhere.

m@tt wrote: Not beyond redemption, they can still add to their Test caps but how much will this change how they're remembered?

The only impediment that really meaningfully damages the game is match and spot fixing. The sport can't survive that. Memories of ball tampering will fade.

Warne and Waugh getting paid for access by illegal bookies is a huge deal, far worse than this. How many people look at those two now and think that these fellas were willing to jump into the pockets of gangsters? Almost no one. One is a national selector, the other is an Australian voice of the game. They both called an end to their careers in their own time.

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

m@tt wrote: Not beyond redemption, they can still add to their Test caps but how much will this change how they're remembered?

The only impediment that really meaningfully damages the game is match and spot fixing. The sport can't survive that. Memories of ball tampering will fade.

I agree btw!

I said the other week that KP's sacking will be a caveat when remembering his career, but only a caveat. If Smith comes back and scores big runs again, it will be the same.

I was far more offended by Saeed Ajmal's action.

Should do a piece sometime on things that have offended me in cricket... Most would be decisions by the ECB/

Who wasn't more offended by Pakistan's refusal to come out after tea about a decade ago (and then that the ICC changed the result to a draw!) more than the possibility they'd scuffed up the ball?

KP will be remembered for his sacking with sympathy by most people. That's what several polls at the time suggested anyway.

Interesting development - Lehmann has announced his resignation.

m@tt wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

m@tt wrote: Not beyond redemption, they can still add to their Test caps but how much will this change how they're remembered?

The only impediment that really meaningfully damages the game is match and spot fixing. The sport can't survive that. Memories of ball tampering will fade.

I agree btw!

I said the other week that KP's sacking will be a caveat when remembering his career, but only a caveat. If Smith comes back and scores big runs again, it will be the same.

Kp was sacked for whistling, not sure this is comparable.

I'd give Smith 2 extra years for his OTT press conference tears. I'm 99% sure that was frankly embarrassing acting

I'm not surprised by the Lehamn decision. It had to happen..... indeed it was always going to happen, I think. Even assuming that he did have nothing to do with the decision to tamper with the ball, he has to take responsibility for the way his team behaves under his leadership.

Smith breaking down in public will do him some good too, I think. It sends a powerful message to anyone considering tampering, of what can happen if you get caught. The ICC may not have ever really taken it seriously enough to impose harsh sanctions on players, but watching the best batsman in world cricket, fall apart like that so publicly, will send a powerful message to cricketers the world over. The prospect of public humiliation is probably a very good deterrent. It also convinces me that he really has learnt his lesson, and we will be able to trust him in future, once his ban finishes.

Warner has been very quiet. At no stage has his head appeared above the parapet. Something will burst at some stage.

This is turning into "I am an Aussie cricketer, get a camera in my face and you will see my crying like a baby"........

Mick Dundee would be so disappointed.

sussexpob wrote:

m@tt wrote:

Arthur Crabtree wrote:

m@tt wrote: Not beyond redemption, they can still add to their Test caps but how much will this change how they're remembered?

The only impediment that really meaningfully damages the game is match and spot fixing. The sport can't survive that. Memories of ball tampering will fade.

I agree btw!

I said the other week that KP's sacking will be a caveat when remembering his career, but only a caveat. If Smith comes back and scores big runs again, it will be the same.

Kp was sacked for whistling, not sure this is comparable.

I know! I was, and remain, pro-KP as far as that argument goes. But whatever the reasons, the fallout was not pretty and his book made it worse. And there was the texting stuff. That kind of stuff remains a mark on his record and some will give those things a lot of prominence when remembered him, but as far as I'm concerned it's his runs I'll remember.

sussexpob wrote:This is turning into "I am an Aussie cricketer, get a camera in my face and you will see my crying like a baby"........

Mick Dundee would be so disappointed.

IMHO the old macho image of the Australian male bas long gone and is not very popular with genuine cricket followers or the public. This a a nation which has apologised to its indigenous people and recently voted for same sex marriage. Yes the bbqs and beer are still rightly popular and sports like the AFL are tough. However you couldn’t wish for a more welcoming, kind, sensitive and multicultural bunch than those I’ve met in this wonderful country. I am not surprised in the least at the response over there- Garlic Jam and yuppie have summed things up with considerable literacy and understanding of why this goes to the heart of their culture.

Lots of tears shed today, how much sympathy should we afford them?

None I reckon, just for the type of people they seem to be. Feel alot of sympathy for the poor families who've probably had a shed load of abuse.

Still don't believe that the truth is being told over who knew about it.Three batsmen trying to get the ball to reverse swing, surely the bowlers would have had some input, after all they're the ones who have to achieve the swing. Lehman must have known aswell, he's just the type of dodgy rogue you can see plotting this underhand act.

KipperJohn wrote:

sussexpob wrote:This is turning into "I am an Aussie cricketer, get a camera in my face and you will see my crying like a baby"........

Mick Dundee would be so disappointed.

IMHO the old macho image of the Australian male bas long gone and is not very popular with genuine cricket followers or the public. This a a nation which has apologised to its indigenous people and recently voted for same sex marriage. Yes the bbqs and beer are still rightly popular and sports like the AFL are tough. However you couldn’t wish for a more welcoming, kind, sensitive and multicultural bunch than those I’ve met in this wonderful country. I am not surprised in the least at the response over there- Garlic Jam and yuppie have summed things up with considerable literacy and understanding of why this goes to the heart of their culture.

Une petite blague, KP.....

If it happened to the England team, we'd just blame the person with the name sounding most ethnically Lithuanian, while the ECB rallied the press to support their captain's cult of personality.