[nilanjanray]

Everyone painting Warner as THE villain.

There is a theory floating around that since Quinton de Kock was still batting, and taking the game away (after the end of first session play, and before that infamous lunch among four wannabe reverse swingers), Warner decided to use innovative means to take out his bête noire.


It is amusing to see that DRSgate hasn't been brought up in any of the Anglosphere articles. Except one AFP article that was syndicated across South Africa and India.

I would think that 'pattern + history of cheating behaviour' would be the first theme that needed to be highlighted.

Head in the sand hypocrites even now. This entire exercise (about sanctioning/banning) is about managing media/public fallout after tv and social humiliation.

[saurabh2711]

After BCCI has cleared their stance on Both Smith & Warner, and sacked them from IPL with replacements to affected teams; came across this meme from Air New Zealand

Link:
https://www.hindustantimes.com/crick...37KdjbG6H.html

Contents : "Copyrights & credits to original Author":

.

Master class in (legal) swing bowling?’ Air New Zealand troll Steve Smith, David Warner

David Warner and skipper Steve Smith were on Wednesday banned for a year each by Cricket Australia while Cameron Bancroft was suspended for nine months because of their involvement in the ball tampering scandal that has taken the cricketing world by storm.

The three have already faced sanctions from the International Cricket Council. Warner and Smith have also stepped down as captains of Sunrisers Hyderabad and Rajasthan Royals — the franchises they represent in the Indian Premier League.

However, as it happens with every controversy, there were a number of memes and trolls that went around in the past few days.

While former cricketers and fans took their sly digs at Australia and their cricketers, Air New Zealand came up with a hilarious invitation for Smith, Warner and Cameron urging them to go visit New Zealand, their trans-Tasman rivals and spend some time given the condition back home.

The text read: “Hi Steve, we hear you’re heading home for some time off. While you’ve been a naughty boy, our boys have been doing rather nicely. This Friday, we’re taking on the Poms again, in Christchurch. How about a master class in swing bowling? How about a master class in (legal) swing bowling? Oh, also it’s a little cooler down south. So it might be a nice way for you to escape the heat back home. David and Cameron are welcome too. Anyway, offer’s there.”

The ‘legal’ term was aimed at Australia’s attempt to roughen up the surface of the ball to try and generate reverse swing for lengthier periods, an act Bancroft was on when television cameras caught him red-handed. New Zealand lead their two match series against England 1-0 and had won the first Test in thumping fashion after beating the visitors by an innings and 49 runs.

However, it wasn’t just the rivals’ camps that were on with nasty remarks about the Baggy Greens. Triple J, an Australian national radio station came up with a video slamming their cricketers as cheats who try and get away playing the game in the wrong spirit. They even mocked the underarm bowling saga, in which Trevor Chappell was asked by his brother Greg Chappell, who was also the captain of the national side back in 1981 to bowl underarm. New Zealand required a six off the last ball to tie the match but that was always impossible with the ball kissing the pitch all along as it reached the batsman.

[Sawyer]

It is still hard to take Lehmann and his tears of sorrow seriously - they are tears of joy at escaping any consequence, more likely. A 50 year old, who accused Broad of cheating a few years ago, and on radio asked the Australian public to abuse him to the point that Broad
"cries and runs away" is a nasty specimen and at that age, people don't change. And for the author of the theory of "head butting the line" to now say "we will emulate NZ in future", is a bit rich. As much as I feel sorry and even sad for Smith including how he was taken through the airport with people shouting "Cheat" at him, I don't for one moment feel for Lehmann and his tears. One hopes that his karma is merely circling around him for the right moment.

Cricket still has many gentlemen playing the international game - and let me say here that I think that the Indian team has as high a percentage of these as any other barring NZ perhaps - and Hashim Amla is up there with the best. No surprise therefore to hear him say that this incident is a wake up call for all boards and teams. And that no matter how intensely contested the match, it still isn't a war. And for saying what he shows on the field as classily as he does - actions, not words and posturing, are the best response. As did people like Tendulkar/Dravid/Laxman. Or even as do people like Bhuvaneshwar Kumar, Umesh Yadav, or even the rookie Bumrah today. Does anyone seriously believe that a contest between the latter named fast bowlers on sporting wickets and people like Amla, Elgar, Root is any less intense or less enjoyable because there is no spite or spraying of words or animal gestures between them?

It is also obvious that all administrators are equally guilty of sleeping over minor sins that allowed players to keep testing the limits of the line on their way to this scandal. A classic example is the DRS issue last year. Rightly or wrongly, Kohli accused the Australians of systematic cheating. If the Indian board believed him, they should have pursued this to its logical conclusion; who knows, that may have prevented Smith from doing what he did in SA, once severely chastened for cheating. And if the Indian board did not believe Kohli, they should have severely disciplined him for reckless lying. As far as CA is concerned, they too failed; if they believed in Smith as they proclaimed they did, they should have sued Kohli for slander as well. But neither of the two boards took serious note of the matter, and little by little, the head butters kept pushing the line forward. Who will pay the price for this sleeping at the steering wheel? By people supposedly more mature and responsible than the much younger cricketers?

[selfdrive]

Was it not Lehmann who radioed Pete Handscomb to speak with/ inform Bancroft that the cameras had caught his antics? If so, nobody saw Bancroft owning up to the umpire.
Lehmann may or may not have been part of the initial plan, but he did seem to trigger the plan to hide it from the umpires and shove the tape down the trousers. Maybe they all took the kangaroos analogy too seriously by assuming they have a pouch down there.

As for the cricket boards of India and Australia, let us not assume that age brings with it any sort of maturity and responsibility.

The part that I am happy about is that it has come as a wake up call for all other cricketers at the expense of the Australians; who have been generally despised since the last 2 decades for their general behaviour. And not at the expense of any other team; least our own.

[Sawyer]

The CA version of the radio call is Lehmann noticed something untoward, was surprised, and asked Handscomb to find out - What the f*&% is going on? - And no more, and not instructions to hide the sandpaper.

Of course some say that his expression at the time was of guilt, but that is all speculation. The truth may never be known.

Another interesting bit of re-viewing is the press meet where Bancroft and Smith are said to have lied when they said that tape was used, suggesting that it would not been an effective tool, to merely pick some granules on the field for rubbing the ball.

It is now said that the object was much more effective sand paper, but admitting that would have made them look worse. So now see if you can pick up any clues that identify the lie while it is being uttered. I doubt it, they look very sincere:-).

As to the age thing, is it not why the old men of BCCI use it to cling on to power, citing their vast experience and wisdom?!

[dailydriver]

Two photos, one of which is apparently real (and posted on Facebook) and the other a result of creative imagination, give vent to feelings of the fans post Tampergate.

1

2

The Australian trio have soiled themselves very badly and hence the need for tampered Pampers!

Source:
1. Inshorts
2. WhatsApp

[Sawyer]

Three very different ways to express remorse:
1. Steve Smith, accepting full responsibility even when a question offered an opportunity to shift blame to Warner, and breaking down in front of the cameras with his father by his side in a press meet at the airport on landing in Sydney - that was no act.
2. Cameron Bancroft, saying the same but looking like he is reading from a prepared statement.
3. David Warner, saying sorry via Twitter.

I should have said four ways, but I still don't see any sincerity in the Lehmann performance, just more hypocrisy. 100% Bollywood
melodrama.

PS: There also is a time to be silent and Tendulkar should have remained silent on this one, instead of hailing the ban to be in the spirit of cricket as he piously has. Irrespective of whether he was guilty or not, his name is associated with ball tampering and I don't recall any direct statement from him at that time.

[dailydriver]

Originally Posted by Sawyer

that was no act.

It wasn't indeed.

Smith seems to be genuinely sorry and repentant about the act that happened:

on my watch and I take responsibility for what happened

I'll regret this for the rest of my life. I'm absolutely gutted

There was a failure of leadership, of my leadership

But even if he was following the Biblical words, "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out", these sincere words too might not really drive the memory of the crime out of people's memory; and more importantly, history's.

Quotes Courtesy:
1.NDTV
2.Bible Hub

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by dailydriver

But even if he was following the Biblical words, "Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out", these sincere words too might not really drive the memory of the crime out of people's memory; and more importantly, history's.

If the contrition is as genuine as it looks, he has certainly taken the first important step to rehabilitation. What he does next over the coming months, including when he plays at the highest levels again will determine history's judgement. Indeed, he may even end up in a greater place at the end of his career for having fallen as he has and then redeemed himself. One can only wish him well.

ICC in the meanwhile, blunders along in wanting to elevate the sin of ball tampering to a higher level. While there is nothing wrong with that, this entire scandal has nothing to do with ball tampering; at its essence it is about bringing the game and a nation into disrepute. And getting the spirit of the game back into it will take a much broader range of actions. I don't see that happening via ICC even now.

Maybe it is also less to do with ICC than it is with the boards and team captains. There are only a few bad apples actually; most international captains seem to be mindful of playing the game in the right spirit. And I like to believe that this will empower them to get their nasty players to behave in future - as an example, Root/Anderson. The latter is as nasty as any Australian.

PS: Breaking news: Lehmann quits! Said to have decided after watching the Smith press conference in Sydney.

[Sawyer]

"...We can learn that the game needs to calm down. I wrote in the Wisden Almanack this year that the tone of the game is in need of a serious retuning... Removing the lip, that negative intent, is what we can learn. By all means bowl bouncers with skill and precision, but take out the angst and hate, the sledging and the media barbs, and just go out and express your version of your courage and skill for your team. Show the youth of today the right way to play the game respectfully, hard and fair. The game has turned too lippy, too edgy. Let's chill a bit in general, as a good lesson and reminder, to keep the game authentic."

It resonates today, but any guesses as to who wrote this, and when?

The late great Martin Crowe, immediately after Phil Hughes was killed.

Even the lesson from the death of a young man was not absorbed; what chances for this one?

When there are many who would want cricket to lose the anchor of the spirit of the game?

[nilanjanray]

Bancroft was truly repentant. Smith sounded like a guy reading out his PR script. In spite of the tears (glycerine or whatever). Same with Lehmann. Only the 'villain' Warner is not crying for sympathy (pun intended). Respect him for his defiance, even if he is going down in a blaze of non-glory. The others are playing a sympathy game. Script, methinks.

[Eddy]

What do you guys think ? Can the Aussies win the last test match ? If any team can, it has to be Australia.

[nilanjanray]

Originally Posted by Eddy

What do you guys think ? Can the Aussies win the last test match ? If any team can, it has to be Australia.

No. SA is out for blood. If Aus gets hammered, whole world would be happy

[Sawyer]

Originally Posted by Eddy

If any team can, it has to be Australia.

I agree. But this may prove too much even for them. A lot depends on the state of the wicket.

[Sawyer]

With India touring both England and Australia next, and both now in a state of some disarray, this situation is not a happy one for us. There will be pressure on India also because both countries have in the past relaunched their fortunes at our expense. There will be even more pressure in England where we will go as the number 1 team in both Tests and ODIs. Winning will be seen to be expected, and losing the opposite. Not a nice place to be except for teams with the capabilities like Lloyd's WI or Waugh's Australians.

And after the recent SA experience, the lesson of not going underprepared will be expected to have been learnt.

The two defining moments of the Kohli captaincy coming up, I think.