Steve Smith as Captain

[Richard Pryor]

Egg on face for salty English cricketers.

 

[the_interloper]

He was only honest after they got caught so he gets no credit from me. Has he admitted how long they were doing it for as there were rumours for a while about the aussies before they got busted in SA.

You got a source for those rumours at all? I was shocked when the sandpaper thing happened, I really had no inkling that would still go on in international cricket, too much scrutiny etc

 

[Blue Arrow]

Egg on face for salty English cricketers.

Who gives a sh*t what English cricketers think?
Flintoff was a useless flog until the 2005 Ashes, then turned into the white Malcolm Marshall because of Trescothic and his minties based ball tampering.

 

[CheapCharlie]

Can you explain how you do this on a turf pitch in the time Smith was shadow batting?

Why people feel the need to justify Smith's actions.... hard to understand

I still question the backlash against Smith.

Essentially he was punished for being the only cricketer to come out and be honest when it came to ball tampering.

I don't really want him to captain because I don't think he's great at it but overall, the sad reality to come out of sandpaper is sportspeople learned that lying is going to be better for your career then coming out with the truth.

Imagine if Smith played for India or Pakistan and the sandpaper incident happened and now the marking the crease shenanigan.

Would the public be so willing to forgive, justify and excuse?

Nah, crowds and commentators would be making forever references to the player being a cheat.

Smith previously showed his character with the sandpaper cheating involvement. This is just a continuation of that

 

[corbies]

Why people feel the need to justify Smith's actions.... hard to understand

You didn't answer the question. I would like to know so that when I go out to bat tomorrow I can easily move my guard from middle to off and remove the middle guard in seconds so as to not confuse myself.

Imagine if Smith played for India or Pakistan and the sandpaper incident happened and now the marking the crease shenanigan.

Would the public be so willing to forgive, justify and excuse?

Nah, crowds and commentators would be making forever references to the player being a cheat.

Smith previously showed his character with the sandpaper cheating involvement. This is just a continuation of that

3 months after the sandpaper incident, Dinesh Chandimal tampered with a ball in a Test Match v WI. He vehemently denied it despite obvious video evidence and then proceeded to not let his team take the field for an entire session. Almost creating the 2nd forfeited Test in history. He came out to Australia that same year and not once was it ever brought up. So to answer your question, I don't think "the public" would even know about it.

 

[CheapCharlie]

You didn't answer the question. I would like to know so that when I go out to bat tomorrow I can easily move my guard from middle to off and remove the middle guard in seconds so as to not confuse myself.


3 months after the sandpaper incident, Dinesh Chandimal tampered with a ball in a Test Match v WI. He vehemently denied it despite obvious video evidence and then proceeded to not let his team take the field for an entire session. Almost creating the 2nd forfeited Test in history. He came out to Australia that same year and not once was it ever brought up. So to answer your question, I don't think "the public" would even know about it.

I didn't answer your first question because it is not relevant. The intention of Smith was to create some confusion for the batsman.
Do you think this was appropriate behaviour for Smith?
Nah, it isnt and he has form as a dishonest cheat. That's the point

Dinesh Chandimal also used sandpaper?

 

[corbies]

Dinesh Chandimal also used sandpaper?

No. Surely it is the act and intent rather than the method that we shamed Smith for?

No one was like "well at least he didn't use bottle caps like NZ in 1990?"

 

[CheapCharlie]

No. Surely it is the act and intent rather than the method that we shamed Smith for?

No one was like "well at least he didn't use bottle caps like NZ in 1990?"

My example regarding India and Pakistan was comparing it to them using sandpaper and how Australian crowds would react.

Any act of cheating is distasteful, but the sandpaper incident was so brazen and arrogant it stands head and shoulders above most others.

Point of it is... Smith has past form, so it goes to his moral character, and evidence seen thus far shows he is dishonest

 

[Richard Pryor]

Why people feel the need to justify Smith's actions.... hard to understand




Imagine if Smith played for India or Pakistan and the sandpaper incident happened and now the marking the crease shenanigan.

Would the public be so willing to forgive, justify and excuse?

Nah, crowds and commentators would be making forever references to the player being a cheat.

Smith previously showed his character with the sandpaper cheating involvement. This is just a continuation of that

Shahid Afridi bit the ball to tamper with it on camera. Does anyone call him a cheat? I don't really hear it. Imran Khan admitted in his autobio to using bottle caps on the ball, don't hear cheat associated with him that often.

Self righteous grandstanding is what I'm seeing here so I think it's really irrelevant what Smith did. India batting coach said Pant didn't even notice so not sure what was so bad about it (I'm sure you've got some reasoning to ignore his statement so you can keep up the feigned outrage though).

 

[CheapCharlie]

Shahid Afridi bit the ball to tamper with it on camera. Does anyone call him a cheat? I don't really hear it. Imran Khan admitted in his autobio to using bottle caps on the ball, don't hear cheat associated with him that often.

Self righteous grandstanding is what I'm seeing here so I think it's really irrelevant what Smith did. India batting coach said Pant didn't even notice so not sure what was so bad about it (I'm sure you've got some reasoning to ignore his statement so you can keep up the feigned outrage though).

More justifications
Aussies love to claim other countries players are cheats, but when our own players do it, the excuses and comparisons start coming out thick and fast.
Is Smith a confirmed cheat? Ye she is.

 

[Richard Pryor]

More justifications
Aussies love to claim other countries players are cheats, but when our own players do it, the excuses and comparisons start coming out thick and fast.
Is Smith a confirmed cheat? Ye she is.

Right, this explains why Dravid was constantly booed when he was in Australia. It was all a reaction to when he lost 50% of his match fee for rubbing a cough lozenge on the ball.

Except that never happened. But hopefully your big strawman scenario satisfies your righteousness complex. We're all very impressed with how ethical you are and you're so very special and different compared to the rest of the Australians (you're the main one making comparisons that I can see here because what you're whining about is so tame you have to somehow make allusions to racism to get it just dramatic enough to be worth getting worked up over).

 

[iluvparis]

And to back up what Maybe Tomorrow quoted, the only real reason that Steve Smith was ever positioned captain of the Australia was because he scored runs more consistently then his peers and that he was from NSW where all the bias comes from. If he was born anywhere else around the country, he wouldn't have been captain at all full stop. He was poor not just in tactical evolution of the game but also culturally and sportsmanship as well.

Like I quote, a great performing player doesn't always equate to being a good leader on/off field and it is demonstrated by this muppet of a clown several times now.

I originally read this as culinary - which would explain why Warney was never made captain

 

[Richard Pryor]

I originally read this as culinary - which would explain why Warney was never made captain

Cullinany

 

[CheapCharlie]

Right, this explains why Dravid was constantly booed when he was in Australia. It was all a reaction to when he lost 50% of his match fee for rubbing a cough lozenge on the ball.

Except that never happened. But hopefully your big strawman scenario satisfies your righteousness complex. We're all very impressed with how ethical you are and you're so very special and different compared to the rest of the Australians (you're the main one making comparisons that I can see here because what you're whining about is so tame you have to somehow make allusions to racism to get it just dramatic enough to be worth getting worked up over).

Is it so difficult to just admit that Smith is a cheat?
He had a one year ban for being a cheat.
His past history indicates he is open to cheating
Sure, this incident might be minor in the scheme of things, but was it intentional is the question? His past behavior would say yes it was.
The simple fact is, different rules apply by supporters in Australia when one of our own is caught cheating.
The finger pointing immediately begins with " but but but, XXX player from XX country did this and did that, so our player isn't so bad."

 

[Richard Pryor]

Is it so difficult to just admit that Smith is a cheat?
He had a one year ban for being a cheat.
His past history indicates he is open to cheating
Sure, this incident might be minor in the scheme of things, but was it intentional is the question? His past behavior would say yes it was.
The simple fact is, different rules apply by supporters in Australia when one of our own is caught cheating.
The finger pointing immediately begins with " but but but, XXX player from XX country did this and did that, so our player isn't so bad."

Considering Cricket Australia banned him for a year on top of the ICC bans purely for optics purposes and completely out of the ordinary for the offense in cricket and the Prime Minister came out and shat on him for cheating to score political points I'd say your self righteousness is very much in the majority in Australia. I know it doesn't feel as special though.

You keep repeating this "DIFFERENT RULES" point despite evidence to the contrary as well, so I'll chalk it up as a draw due to stonewalling on your part. If anything the different rules for one of our own cheating is that people start whining the opposite way about how bad Australia is and how nobody (except for them) seems to care.

 

[iluvparis]

Cullinany

Good areas dick

 

[The hands of stone]

I didn't answer your first question because it is not relevant. The intention of Smith was to create some confusion for the batsman.
Do you think this was appropriate behaviour for Smith?
Nah, it isnt and he has form as a dishonest cheat. That's the point

Dinesh Chandimal also used sandpaper?

Seriously , create confusion ???? If your not sure where you gaurd is you ask again , its not that hard .

If a batsman ever got out by being 'confused' by gaurd markings well fool them.

 

[Gethelred]

To follow up what 010203 quoted, the problem with Steve Smith is that he is a very arrogant, selfish and competitive person who always wants to bat and never wants to lose or get out otherwise we will cry like a little baby does.

You just need to look over in New Zealand in how Kane Williamson acts as their star player and captain and compare the pair between those two players. You didn't seem Williamson cry like a baby cause they lost the world cup in England by the smallest of margins, did you.

I know who I would have as my star player and captain and it isn't Steve Smith anymore.

I agree with the post ostensibly, but New Zealand didn't lose the World Cup.

 

[Belnakor]

get him back

 

[PP34]

Considering Cricket Australia banned him for a year on top of the ICC bans purely for optics purposes and completely out of the ordinary for the offense in cricket and the Prime Minister came out and shat on him for cheating to score political points I'd say your self righteousness is very much in the majority in Australia. I know it doesn't feel as special though.

You keep repeating this "DIFFERENT RULES" point despite evidence to the contrary as well, so I'll chalk it up as a draw due to stonewalling on your part. If anything the different rules for one of our own cheating is that people start whining the opposite way about how bad Australia is and how nobody (except for them) seems to care.

The pile on with Smith over the incident was pathetic and it continues to amaze me how much people make of the incident. So many Australians and the media love telling themselves we are such a sanctimonious sporting nation and any stuff up is abhorrent and must be dealt with in the harshest way possible.

Ran a generational cricketer out of the game for a year because he allowed something to happen that multiple international cricket captains have allowed to happen. We aren't morally superior and never have been. A complete crock of s**t. All the do gooders must have been asleep while Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist etc relentlessly went at opponents or while Warne carried on like an absolute loose cannon off the field or had met with shady bookmakers.

 

[Browney2006]

The ball always seems to swing a heap more with Smith captain, get him back in.

 

[Peter Bixley]

The pile on with Smith over the incident was pathetic and it continues to amaze me how much people make of the incident. So many Australians and the media love telling themselves we are such a sanctimonious sporting nation and any stuff up is abhorrent and must be dealt with in the harshest way possible.

Ran a generational cricketer out of the game for a year because he allowed something to happen that multiple international cricket captains have allowed to happen. We aren't morally superior and never have been. A complete crock of sh*t. All the do gooders must have been asleep while Warne, McGrath, Gilchrist etc relentlessly went at opponents or while Warne carried on like an absolute loose cannon off the field or had met with shady bookmakers.

Great post. I think it was a sign of changing times. Plenty of players have ball-tampered and got away with a 50% match fee fine and one-test ban. Cricket Australia (Australian Cricket Board to most of us) seem so vain and image-conscious. I'm not Australian but I'm a big Australia fan both as a cricket team and a nation and from the outside it appears that both have vastly changed in recent times. What's happened to the rugged, dogged Oz?

 

[LordLucifer]

Paine has to step down as captain but Smith is not the answer as replacement and never will again.

 

[sherb]

Paine has to step down as captain but Smith is not the answer as replacement and never will again.

If that's the case, and Smith isn't the answer, you've got two choices -
*Pick a captain from the existing team, and I can't see any viable choices apart from Smith, or
*Pick a captain who isn't good enough to actually be in the team, which is hardly ideal

 

[Browney2006]

Great post. I think it was a sign of changing times. Plenty of players have ball-tampered and got away with a 50% match fee fine and one-test ban. Cricket Australia (Australian Cricket Board to most of us) seem so vain and image-conscious. I'm not Australian but I'm a big Australia fan both as a cricket team and a nation and from the outside it appears that both have vastly changed in recent times. What's happened to the rugged, dogged Oz?

Plenty of players have ball tampered yes. But nothing to this degree, where it was systematically pre planned and a foreign object actually brought onto the field. The whole leadership team planned out the whole thing. Clearly wasnt the first time this group had cheated either, would be extremely naive to think otherwise.

Smith is an incredible cricketer but he wont ever captain his country again.