Kara Jung: How do I tell my kid the Aussies are cheats?

STEVE Smith has cheated my son, and every other kid who idolises the Australian cricket team, writes Kara Jung. How do I explain I expect more from him than I do from those so-called role models?

Peter Handscomb speaks to Cameron Bancroft to alert him he's been caught cheating.

DURING the hot hazy days of this summer, my young son fell in love with cricket.

Hours were spent watching the TV and then out in the backyard hitting sixes like Steve Smith and ‘Davey’ Warner.

He mimics his heroes — touching his helmet to ensure all is still in place, the stiff-legged double tap of the bat — just like the Australian Cricket captain.

I love watching my skinny muscly six-year-old boy throw his arms in the air, index fingers pointed to the clouds, shouting “howzat” as he races across the lawn to give myself or his dad a high five, echoing the mannerisms of bowlers like Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazelwood and Pat Cummins.

I love watching his joy when he bowls a magic ball to scatter my stumps.

The afternoon he was picked up from school to be dropped at Adelaide Oval to watch the Ashes with his Nanny and Poppy, he was jumping out of his skin.

He came home with a green and gold Cricket Australia cap he called his Baggy Green and told me that one day he was going to play for Australia.

A noble goal, indeed, until news broke this weekend of our national cricket team cheating.

Screengrab showing the moment Cameron Bancroft removed the tape from his pocket to tamper with the ball.

As parents we have tried to teach our son you should always try to win, but the way you play is more important than the result on the scoreboard.

Play hard, but play fair. Don’t cheat. Pick your opponent up if he falls. Cheer on your team mates, congratulate the opposition.

Be a good sport.

Steve Smith confessed that he and a few other members of the national team’s ‘leadership group’ had authorised the illegal practice of ball tampering during the test — delegating the disgraceful deed to youngster Cameron Bancroft.

Bancroft was caught on camera using a piece of yellow tape to pick up grit from the ground before rubbing the ball with it, in an attempt to change its flight during bowling.

Like parents around the country, I am furious. How dare you? Why? And how the hell am I going to explain to my child that cheating is not OK, but your heroes just did it?

Steve Smith, you have not just cheated the game, but you have cheated my son and everyone else that looked up to you. How dare you, Steve Smith. How dare you.

Professor of Pyschology Robyn Young, from Flinders University, shared my shock, telling me it was ‘beyond belief’, even more so for the fact it was not in the heat of the moment but a deliberate, premeditated act.

“Be transparent and honest — it’s okay for them to see you are shocked too,’’ Professor Young says.

“This behaviour is so at odds with what is right and moral, so it is difficult to explain that to young children.

Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith admit cheating. (Pic: AFP)

“But children also need to understand people make mistakes, that there is huge pressure on these players to win; that cheating is never OK but that we don’t want to bully Smith or those involved — despite what they have done.”

Professor Young said there was the added disgraceful element of senior leaders, people in authority, asking a young impressionable player to cheat.

“It is an opportunity to talk to your children about standing up when someone asks you to do something that makes you uncomfortable, that you think is wrong — whether that’s a child in the school playground or the captain of the Australian cricket team.

“This will forever tarnish Steve Smith’s career, no matter what good he achieved before — it is so powerful as to outweigh his achievements. And with condemnation coming from previous captains — former heroes of the game — and people in Australia and internationally it is a clear message that cheating is wrong.”

The worst we could do is let these men get away with it.

Sport serves society by showing examples of hard work, leadership, perseverance and teamwork.

But mostly, it shows us strength of character.

The team had already lost the game before the final numbers were recorded on the scoreboard.

They had already lost, because, as I will continue to teach my son, victory is in the way you play.

Kara Jung is the digital editor for Messenger News.

Originally published as Kara Jung: How do I tell my kid the Aussies are cheats?