Australian cricket ball tampering scandal: Six unanswered questions
DARREN Lehmann remains coach, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will soon return home and sanctions are imminent. Yet plenty of questions remain unanswered. Ben Horne tackles six burning issues in the ball tampering scandal.
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Cricket Australia addresses media over ball tampering
Steve Smith, David Warner, Cameron Bancroft being sent home
Proper sanctions to be handed down after investigation completed
CA boss James Sutherland said only three players knew of plot
Tim Paine has been officially appointed captain of Test team
Matt Renshaw, Joe Burns, Glenn Maxwell to play in fourth Test
DARREN Lehmann remains coach, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will soon return home and sanctions are imminent. Yet plenty of questions remain unanswered.
Ben Horne tackles six burning issues in the ball tampering scandal.
WHAT SANCTIONS ARE LIKELY FOR SMITH, WARNER AND BANCROFT?
Steve Smith and David Warner will be stripped of their leadership responsibilities permanently and are likely to be suspended for between six to 12 months. Cameron Bancroft is also facing a six-month ban. All three have the right to a hearing if they refuse to accept the sanctions levelled against them. It’s possible Smith and Warner could still be expelled from the IPL where they stand to earn $2.4 million each. All three players have been reported under the code of conduct and will fly home tomorrow. However, Cricket Australia integrity man Iain Roy is yet to finalise his investigation, so as it stands the pair have only been stood down from the fourth Test in Johannesburg.
LISTEN: SUTHERLAND PRESS CONFERENCE IN FULL
CAN DARREN LEHMANN CONTINUE AFTER THIS, DESPITE BEING CLEARED OF HAVING KNOWLEDGE OF BALL TAMPERING?
The most intriguing part of the press conference was James Sutherland’s immediate declaration that coach Darren Lehmann had no knowledge of the incident and would remain on as coach. That’s a significant statement for CA to make, but the future still looks bleak for Lehmann. Sutherland has foreshadowed a full review into the culture of the men’s team. It’s almost impossible to see how Lehmann can survive a review of this nature. Sutherland’s confidence that Lehmann knew nothing of the incident is consistent with Steve Smith’s immediate assertion that the coach was not involved. However, CA must offer a full explanation into Lehmann’s now infamous walkie-talkie conversation with 12th man Peter Handscomb on the field that led to Bancroft trying to hide the evidence of his ball tampering.
CAN SMITH AND WARNER EVER PLAY FOR AUSTRALIA AGAIN?
This is perhaps the most vexing question and the picture will become clearer tomorrow when the full sanctions are handed down and hopefully a more thorough recount of the incident is given by Cricket Australia. David Warner’s extraordinary falling out with the fast bowling group asks serious questions about how certain teammates will ever be able to play together again. Smith is beyond distraught at what has unfolded and there are concerns over how he will carry this burden. A player who struggles to sleep at night during a Test match on a good day faces an arduous road back, particularly if he’s rubbed out of the game for 12 months. Smith’s integrity has taken an enormous blow.
WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR JAMES SUTHERLAND, PAT HOWARD AND THOSE IN LEADERSHIP POSITIONS?
It remains to be seen what the scope of Cricket Australia’s review will be. But Sutherland and Howard must be in the gun. Sutherland read the riot act to the team after the first Test in Durban following David Warner’s stairwell stoush with Quinton de Kock – and yet no one listened. There is a feeling that head office has played a part in letting the ‘Spirit of Cricket’ mantra CA once prided itself on, slip. Howard reappointed Darren Lehmann as coach and is the chief overseer of team performance. This is a team performance issue of crisis proportions. Sutherland has conceded that the ball tampering issue is only one part of a more wide-ranging cultural problem. This reflects as badly on Sutherland and Howard as it does on anyone else.
WHY DID SUTHERLAND REFUSE TO REFER TO THE INCIDENT AS ‘CHEATING’?
Sutherland chose his words carefully during the press conference and despite being prompted several times by journalists in the room, he refused to specifically use the word ‘cheating’. Asked ‘Did they cheat?’
Sutherland replied: “This is not in the laws of the game, it’s not in the spirit of the game, and again I am angry and disappointed.” Pushed again with, ‘Is it cheating?’ Sutherland responded with: “It’s not a good day for Australian cricket.” It’s curious that Sutherland didn’t want to go there, but in the overall scheme of things not a big deal and perhaps understandable with the investigation not yet complete. However, the bottom line is that Cricket Australia have to come clean with the full, expansive details of their investigation, no matter what it might reveal and no matter what damage it might cause. Transparency is their only hope of mending a broken image.
WHAT’S THE POINT OF THE FOURTH TEST?
Despite how murky the waters are still, this is an opportunity for the Australian cricket team to show it stands for something. Tim Paine is the captain and has the chance to put his mark on the team following the leadership void that has suddenly struck the side. After playing second XI cricket for Tasmania at the start of the summer, his rise is simply extraordinary. Also, three players have the most unlikely shot at Test redemption. Matt Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns have all endured hard-luck stories in their own way and from nowhere, they have an opportunity to show why they should be part of the new Australia.
Originally published as Australian cricket ball tampering scandal: Six unanswered questions
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