How what seemed a routine case of ball tampering quickly escalated into a national scandal that swept away Steve Smith, David Warner and Darren LehmannIt all ended in tears. Quite often it does in cricket. If nothing else, this week has been a reminder of the unique hold the game has on its players and, in the case of Australia, an entire nation. Add Steve Smith, David Warner and Darren Lehmann to a list of cricketers making tearful departures that includes Michael Vaughan, Kim Hughes, Hansie Cronje and more surprisingly – and privately – Brian Close when he was sensationally sacked by Yorkshire in 1970. Related: Australia's ball-tampering scandal delivers bout of soul-searching Related: Why did Smith and Bancroft have...
It is not clear who benefited from all the weeping in the fall-out of the Australia ball-tampering scandal but not the playersFive days deep into the scandal the Australia team finally hit bottom. Their coach has quit, their two openers are banned and their captain and best batsman since Don Bradman is a broken man.Thursday was a wretched day. It began with Cameron Bancroft’s press conference in Perth, his words catching in his throat as he spoke, continued with Steve Smith’s in Sydney, when he seemed almost overcome with suffering, and finished with Darren Lehmann’s sudden announcement that, despite everything he had said, he was going to resign after all. Lehmann said he changed his mind when he saw Smith...
James Sutherland’s general comments about an uncompleted investigation into ball tampering did the ruling body no good and allowed the issue to festerIt was as Cricket Australia as Cricket Australia gets. Process before progress, careful phrasing before straight answers. The chief executive officer, James Sutherland, fronted up on Tuesday evening South African time after a day of anticipation about how Australia’s ball-tampering scandal would be resolved, then postponed resolving it by 24 hours, saying the investigation he had commissioned was incomplete.Some concrete information of significance did come out. Preliminary findings implicated only the Australia captain, Steve Smith, his deputy David Warner and the junior Cameron Bancroft. The three would be sent home and replaced by Matthew Renshaw, Joe Burns and...
In addition to his speed machines enduring a slowdown and England’s Alastair Cook in imperious nick, Steve Smith experienced a sudden bout of butter fingers on a draining third day for Australia’s main manYou know it has not gone well for Australia when their coach fronts the media at stumps. Bad Day Boof is what it’s called when Darren Lehmann steps in front of the cameras but this was a case of Sad Day Smudge. Steve Smith started the morning with an upset stomach and could only have ended his draining shift in the field feeling worse.Run ragged by a champion in commanding nick, dropping catches, drawn into increasingly funky fields and, by the end, playing an unwilling game of...