Ball tampering: Steve Smith not the only one to blame in this fiasco

Steve Smith should not be the sole scapegoat on a dark day for Australian cricket.

Steve Smith fielding during day four of the third Test at Newlands. Picture: Getty Images

I’m not sure what is more damning for the Australian cricket team, the act of attempting to cheat by tampering with the ball, or the stupidity of thinking you could get away with it.

Not surprisingly, Cricket Australia has deferred any major decision on the future of the people involved.

Captain Steve Smith was quick to state that it was the “leadership group” who hatched the plot to cheat. And Cameron Bancroft admitted to “volunteering” to do the dirty deed.

That immediately prompts two responses.

If indeed it was a leadership-group decision then it’s hard to sack Smith mid-series because there’s no obvious captaincy replacement if all the senior players were involved.

Then there’s the question of why Bancroft got involved?

Both responses shine the spotlight on a system that was doomed to fail.

A system where the players and coaches are constantly stuck in the same bubble can only lead to everyone agreeing with one another, rather than someone speaking out and saying: “This is not acceptable. We can’t do this.”

Any system that includes the captain and coach in the selection process is bound to encourage backside kissing.

If Bancroft, an eight-Test newcomer who, at 25, has been clinging to his opening batsman spot by his fingernails, did indeed volunteer for the task, then he probably felt it would help ingratiate himself with the hierarchy. If this is the case it’s an indictment on a flawed system.

Steve Smith and David Warner.

It’s also hard to believe the “coaches weren’t involved” when you witness Darren Lehmann trying to hide the fact that he was on the walkie-talkie delivering a message to 12th man Peter Handscomb. Especially when Handscomb then relays a message to Bancroft on the field who then proceeds to try to hide the evidence down his trousers before he is interrogated by the umpires.

There are many aspects to this cheating, the worst of crimes in the eyes of most players and fans.

Why did the leadership group believe, with such a strong bowling attack, they needed to cheat? Was it entitlement?

Why did the captain allow a young player to take the fall for such a serious crime?

What role are the coaches playing if this sort of behaviour occurs?

And where does CA’s responsibility lie as the people who oversee these appointments?

“It won’t happen again under my leadership,” a sheepish-looking Smith said in the press conference afterwards.

He could well be right — he may not have the opportunity to make the same mistake again.

Nevertheless, he shouldn’t be the sole scapegoat for a dark day in Australian cricket.

Ian Chappell captained Australia between 1971 and 1975.