Cricket greats say cut player bans after ethics report released

Australian cricket greats have called on administrators to cut the bans on Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft.

David Warner and wife Candice are seen relaxing with their children at Coogee Beach in Sydney. Picture: Matrix

Australian cricket greats have called on administrators to cut the lengthy bans on Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft following a report into the South African ball-tampering scandal that found Cricket Australia chiefs were also to blame.

Test legends Adam Gilchrist and Doug Walters last night joined Shane Warne and former England captain Michael Vaughan in describing the ball-tampering suspensions as excessive.

Their criticisms were rejected by CA chairman David Peever, who is refusing to stand down des­pite the release of a cultural review that found “bullying” and “arrogant” behaviour was part of a ­corporate culture at head office and could not be isolated to the playing group.

The 145-page cultural review, prepared by Simon Longstaff of the Sydney Ethics Centre and ­released yesterday, found “responsibility for that larger picture lies with CA and not just the players held directly responsible for the appalling incidents” in Cape Town.

Mr Longstaff found there was arrogance about the way ­Cricket Australia conducted its business.

“The most common description of CA is as ‘arrogant’ and ‘controlling’,” his report says. “The core complaint is that the organisation does not respect anyone other than its own. Players feel that they are treated as commodities.”

Cricket Australia chairman David Peever won’t stand down despite scathing criticism of the CA leadership. Picture: Aaron Francis

Smith and Warner were stripped of their leadership positions and given 12-month playing bans for their role in the cheating scandal, while Bancroft was banned for nine months. Coach Darren Lehmann stood down a few days after the indecent.

The review, released with 38 passages redacted, said the leadership of CA should accept responsibility for its “inadvertent (but foreseeable) failure to create and support a culture in which the will-to-win was balanced by an equal commitment to moral courage and ethical restraint”.

“The ball-tampering incident at the Newlands Ground in South Africa can be seen as an aberration,” the report says ahead of a ­redacted section.

“It can be dismissed as the failure of a handful of players. However, to think this would be mistaken … we have seen evidence that the structures built around elite cricket are oriented to winning, without properly counting the costs.

“It is the unfortunate lot of a leader that he or she may sometimes be called upon to sacrifice themselves for the greater good. Principled leadership of this kind is rare in contemporary society. Cricket has a chance to set a better example … Whether it takes up this option is a matter for the individuals concerned to determine.”

Australian cricket legend Adam Gilchrist in Perth. Picture: Colin Murty

Mr Peever withheld the cultural review from state cricket chiefs ahead of a vote in which he was unanimously re-elected to serve another term as chairman.

The most damning alle­gations in the review relate to bullying in the organisation.

“The incidence of verbal abuse extends beyond player behaviour,” it says.

Gilchrist yesterday described the players’ bans as “perhaps too harsh”, while Walters said he ­believed the bans should be lifted.

“It’s without doubt an ­extremely harsh penalty, the one that was laid down,” Gilchrist told The Australian. “I think everyone can see that now. Perhaps collectively, at the time it was handed down, we weren’t as aware of that.

“There were calls for strong ­action and that’s what eventuated. There was a lot of emotion around at the time but pretty quickly … I think we started to see it was ­extremely harsh and perhaps too harsh and over the top. I’d concur with that view, on reflection.”

Walters called on CA to reduce the suspensions. “I think the punishments were too hard,” he said.

“For only three guys to get punished, I don’t believe that should have been the case. The water’s fallen under the bridge too far.

“They might as well lift the ban and let them go, and make sure the coach is on top of that stuff to ­tackle it in the future.”

Vaughan supported calls for the bans on Smith and Warner to be reduced. “I thought the bans were too harsh at the time and I still think they are too harsh,” he said. “Now CA has shared the blame, they should reduce the sentences of all three of them.”

He added last night that he believed the cricket review was “cringeworthy”

The bans are estimated to have cost the two senior players about $8 million each in lost contracts, sponsorships and opportunity.

Former captain Steve Smith avoids media scrutiny at home in Coogee yesterday. Picture: Hollie Adams

Mr Peever dismissed suggestions, including from Australian Cricketers Association chief Greg Dyer, that the player bans must be reduced.

“The sanctions were carried out by the board, imposed by the board after a very full and thoughtful process and so the sanctions stand, as I said several weeks ago,” Mr Peever said.

Mr Dyer said: “There must be a reconsideration of the harshness of the penalties handed down,” Dyer said. “Basic fairness demands these independently verified contributing factors must now be taken into consideration and the penalties reduced.”

Recommendations in yesterday’s report include picking players on character, changing parameters for key awards to include respect for the spirit of cricket and the establishment of an ethics commission.

Australian Test captain Tim Paine and vice-captain Josh ­Hazlewood promised to restore pride in Australian cricket after admitting the team became “wrapped up” in its own self-importance.

On claims of bullying, the report said: “It is also said to be evident in other stakeholder relationships and extends to turning a blind eye to behaviour that would normally be des­cribed as bullying. Some respondents recognise that one person’s ‘bullying’ may be another’s ‘tough negotiations’. However, most of the respondents who mention bullying do so with a sense of dismay — seeing it at work on the field (abusive sledging), internally at CA and in the tactics employed when negotiating commercial outcomes.”

Mr Longstaff said after the ball-tampering scandal, there was public “grief … linked to a sense of shame” not felt since the underarm delivery.

“A shame that our society’s ethical malaise had moved from politics, to business, to the churches … an ever-spreading stain that had finally tainted the wearers of the hallowed ‘baggy green’,” he said.

“Australians looked up and asked anew: Is that whom we have become?”