Australian Cricket Bans Smith And Warner For 12 Months

[MargoTester]

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-28/steve-smith-david-warner-banned-playing-australia/9598648

What do you think?

[emmie]

what about the other guy Bancroft was it? the guy tampering with the ball, i would give them life bans but i don't think they will listen...

[emmie]

sorry I see that Bancroft got a 9 month ban jolly good

[Old_Geezer]

Seems harsh, but since it was a national embarrassment shrug

[ludwig]

I should think most cricket teams would do this if they thought they could get away with it.

[Ellipsis]

You mean "cricket" teams, because it's not cricket ...

[emmie]

a national scandal more like, can't have them moaning about being unfair, caught on camera fair and square

[Ellipsis]

As for Warner, couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke ...

[sunny-dave]

The crucial (and expensive) thing is that they have also been banned from the lucrative IPL - otherwise they could just have shrugged their shoulders and walked into the sunset with a sackful of rupees.

Warner appears to be a complet scrote - complete with crocodile tears every time he's caught out in some dubious incident - I doubt even a year off will change him that much. If he's gone for good the game will be a better place.

For Smith it may be an over-reaction - but he and his team have always been good at the 'holier than thou' stuff, so it's fair enough in my book.

[Dee-M-See]

What else did you expect from ex convicts

[Garaman]

I think the punishment is too harsh in Smith’s case. It seems he has made a bad mistake and let someone who is clearly a nasty sort, and too influential, steer him. As I mentioned in another thread, ball tampering isn’t considered a serious offence under the laws of cricket, and he should be punished according to the law he has broken. I think the laws need changing so that it is considered a more serious offence, but it is wrong to punish him as if it was more serious before changing them. It does look bad when you see tape being used, but it isn’t much different to using hair gel etc. which many players have used to change how the ball moves.

I think OG has it, in that he has been punished for embarrassing the country rather than for breaking the laws of cricket. Still harsh though; Atherton embarrassed England in the same manner, but wasn’t punished anything like as harshly.

[MargoTester]

Apparently it was actually sandpaper that was used not tape

[andy-hughes]

Dee - // What else did you expect from ex convicts //

I think you'll find that the individuals concerned are decendents of convicts, rather than ex-convicts, a somewhat important difference that will keep you from a libel action!

[Garaman]

My understanding is that they used tape to collect dirt which then acted as sandpaper. If that is true, it isn't a lot different to rubbing dirt on the ball, which is what Atherton did.

[anneasquith]

They cheated, will it effect future reputation ? I hope so .

[MargoTester]

I've just read a report that they claimed it was sticky tape but it was,in fact, sandpaper.

[ludwig]

The concept of sportsmanship in sport is long gone - if it ever actually existed, which I have my doubts about. It's about money, prestige, and winning.

Football, cycling, athletics, tennis, you name it. It's all riddled with cheating. Where cheating isn't happening, it's only because it's too difficult to do without being caught.

[New Judge]

"As I mentioned in another thread, ball tampering isn’t considered a serious offence under the laws of cricket,..."

And there's the pity. What they did is cheating. Let's not dress it up. I cannot stand cheating in any sport. If you have to cheat, don't take part.

The galling thing is that there is a simple remedy for this. The ball should be inspected by one of the umpires at the end of every over. If tampering is suspected a suitable penalty should be imposed on the team (the forfeiture of their two openers, say, if they are still to bat or a hundred runs added to their opponents' score if not). Something meaningful which has an immediate affect on the current match. It would concentrate their minds a little.

[Garaman]

I am not dressing it up, NJ. As I have said in two threads now that I think the offence should be made more serious. However, punishment should reflect the seriousness of the offence as is and not what we think it should be.

[New Judge]

No, I wasn't suggesting you were dressing it up, garaman. Sorry if it came out that way.

I believe that any action which can have a profound influence on the result (which ball tampering can as it can lead to the loss of wickets which might otherwise not have fallen) should be met with a sanction that can equally influence the result the other way.

[Sqad]

A bit over the top in my opinion.
Yes it was cheating and yes it needs punishing.....BUT bans for up to one year in country and state cricket?
What did Atherton get for ball tampering.....basically a smack on the wrist.