Australia’s ‘win at all costs’ approach to cricket is concerning

During my 45 years as a journalist, primarily in television, I have covered my fair share of controversy. However nothing, with the possible exception of Sir John Kerr sacking Gough Whitlam, has reached the fever pitch of the current cricket fiasco. But while the sacking of Gough created an outcry on both sides of politics, the condemnation of Steve Smith and Dave Warner has been almost entirely one-sided. From the prime minister down, the Australian public have expressed their outrage in the media, on the streets and in pubs, clubs and restaurants. Australians feel tarnished and they’re baying for blood. But I’d like to try and put this in some sort of perspective.

Ball tampering has been going on for years. In the quest for reverse swing, balls have been thrown into the pitch, polished with mints and sugar, rubbed on zippers, chomped on by the player with the largest choppers and had their seams picked in between overs.

The list of players reprimanded for ball tampering contains many of the world’s greats, including the legendary Sachin Tendulkar. Mike Atherton, Shahid Alfridi, Waqar Younis and the current captain of South Africa, Faf du Plessis, who’s been caught twice. However, here this incident differed was the fact that a foreign object (a yellow piece of sticky tape) was brought onto the ground to do the tampering. In the view of most players and fans this crossed the line. But in light of the penalties imposed by the International Cricket Council, this was not the huge cheating scandal that has rocked Australia. As I mentioned before, Australians want blood and they’re determined to get it.

In no way am I condoning what happened and yes of course there should be repercussions, but in light of what’s gone on before, it has to be put in perspective. A good mate of mine stopped supporting the Australia cricket team 30 years ago because of the win at all cost, sledging they brought into the game. Over the years the sledging became more personal and more unsettling and many people have argued that it simply “hasn’t been cricket” for years. The gentleman’s game my a*se! The present team brought it to new heights and even the coach Darren Lehmann when asked if he’d stop it said ‘No’. It had become part of the ‘game’. However, South Africa took sledging to a new level with the taunting of Dave Warner through a past indiscretion of his wife (who wasn’t his wife at the time). Cricket officials even posed with spectators wearing Sonny Bill masks! It was appalling behaviour.

Steve Smith, Dave Warner and Cameron Bancroft have now been sent home and face further sanctions, and probably won’t play for Australia for at least a year. Yet the incident will haunt them forever and cost them literally millions in sponsorships.

What of the rest of the team and Darren Lehmann in particular? As the coach he should have been aware of the win at all cost culture that dominated the team and if he wasn’t he shouldn’t be the coach anyway. Don’t tell me that the fast bowlers in particular didn’t have any inkling what was going on. When you pick up the ball, Blind Freddy would notice that it had become twice as rough on one side as it was the previous over.

This whole thing has emanated from a cricket culture that has been imploding for years and arguably began to unravel when Greg Chappell ordered his young brother Trevor to bowl the infamous underarm delivery in New Zealand.

However, what does seem to defy all logic is the belief that they thought they could get away with it! There are 30 cameras on the field and even a seagull having a discreet poo is picked up and occasionally broadcast. The stupidity was mindboggling.

Sadly, the public will probably never forgive or forget and the reputations of these cricketers are effectively ruined. Young children who had their bats and hats signed by Smith and Warner are now afraid to take them onto the field and that’s sad.

Finally, there’s the ever intrusive presence of social media. It was this that arguably led to the banishment of Barnaby Joyce, but strangely it never turned on Karl Stefanovic or Wayne Bennett who, to all intents and purposes, were guilty of the same thing. I truly fear for the mental health of the ‘Cape Town Three’.

Are you concerned about the example this latest sporting scandal sets for your children and grandchildren? What are your thoughts on the role social media plays in how such issues are discussed?

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