Introduction
The cricketing world woke up to perhaps one of its worst days on 24th March, 2018, since the spot fixing incident by Butt, Amir and Asif at Lords. On the third day of the Newlands test between Australia & South Africa, post lunch break, Australian Opener, Cameron Bancroft was found rubbing a yellow sandpaper on the ball to alter its condition and hence aid in reverse swing. Later that day, both Smith and Bancroft, confessed in the press conference, about ball tampering and the involvement of the leadership group in the incident. Probing investigations followed from Cricket Australia and though ICC was mild on the duo of Smith and Bancroft, by handing them a 1 test match ban and 75% match fee deduction, respectively, CA immediately scraped leadership roles off Smith & Warner and banned them from playing for 1 whole year. Bancroft, himself was banned for 9 months. The duo of Smith & Warner were prevented from playing IPL by BCCI and the two most dominant batsmen of Australian cricket, in recent times, saw the world crumbling around them in a matter of 5 days.
Was the punishment too harsh?
The entire cricketing fraternity has divided into 2 halves regarding this question. One half states that, CA has been too severe on the trio of Smith, Warner & Bancroft, because ICC had allowed them to escape with a minor punishment, since ball tampering is not that big a crime like spot fixing or match fixing in cricket. The other half is of the opinion, that the decision of CA was justified, as Australia has always tried to preach other countries about how to play the game of cricket, and for their players to deliberately break the law of cricket, was itself a massive crime.
I have got a slightly different point of view on this.There was a line I picked up from the press conference of Bancroft and Smith at Cape Town. Bancroft said "We had a discussion during the lunch break." Now, this is where, this incident no longer remains a simple ball tampering incident. If you take a look at all previous instances of ball tampering, be it Atherton (1994), Waqar (2000), Tendulkar (2001), Dravid (2004), Pakistan Cricket Team (2006), Anderson & Broad (2010), Afridi (2010), Du Plessis (2013), Philander (2014), majority of them were results of the lapse in concentration on the part of the player, that resulted in them crossing the line while shining the ball. A selected few incidents, (like Afridi, Atherton, Du Plessis) among those mentioned above, were consequences of the player thinking at the heat of the moment, that they would get away by slightly bending the law of ball tampering. There may be varying opinions on this and some may comment that, a few specific incidents of ball tampering in the past were definitely done deliberately by the team management, but what stands out unquestionably in all the alleged ball tampering incidents from the past, is the fact, that none of them tried to hide it from the eyes of the camera, as they hoped, that even if they were spotted on camera, ICC would let them get away with it. Hence, my assumption, as stated above, about previous ball tampering instances, are definitely correct.
The point, where, this particular incident, went off the hooks, was that, in this case, ball tampering became a part of the team strategy to be executed on the field. As per Bancroft's version of the statement, there was a discussion in the dressing room about it. This only means that 3-4 senior guys of a cricket team were discussing in the dressing room about how to win the game at any cost, by violating the law of cricket. So, it was never just a "brain fade" moment, as often stated by Smith to justify his actions, it was a group of senior players conspiring to do something illegitimate on the cricket field. This can just not be good for any cricket team in the world. This is where a Ball-Tampering incident assumed the magnanimity of spot fixing.
CA understood that, if the group of guys involved in this incident was not given exemplary punishment, the proud cricket culture of Australia, would slowly move towards its demise. The junior players will find out that the seniors got away with such a heinous crime, with a mere one match ban or a deduction of their match fee. Hence gradually, Australian cricketers, will start assuming in future that it is definitely okay to resort to ball tampering, at desperate moments of the match. Cricket Australia surely could foresee this bleak future. Therefore, the trio of Smith, Warner and Bancroft were handed this significant punishment of 1 year and 9 month bans. This will definitely serve as a big wake up call to global cricket, that it is never okay to play the gentleman's game through unfair means, even if the situation in the play demands desperate measures.
Why Bancroft was given the task to work on the ball?
This is another question that is doing rounds among cricket fans. As per Smith's version, it was the leadership group, that decided about ball tampering in the dressing room. Then, what could be the possible reason for handing over the responsibility of tampering the ball to Bancroft, who is just finding his feet in international cricket. Smith himself replied, that Bancroft just happened to be around when this discussion was going on among the leadership group of the team. That is way too naive a logic to believe for sure. Cricket experts are saying that, Smith and Warner himself wanted to steer clear of any controversy and wanted Bancroft to face the entire consequences, if something was caught on camera. But, this is also a logic, which does not hold much ground, because of the way, Smith came out and took responsibility of the incident along with Bancroft, on the day itself, when the incident happened.
My analogy is, Smith or Warner, did not work on the ball themselves, as they knew extremely well, that the camera in the game of cricket is always on the captain / vice captain, recording their reaction and expressions, at various points of the game. So, if Smith or Warner, himself did this ball tampering, they could have been caught red handed very easily. That is why, a junior cricketer was handed the responsibility to do so, as they hoped the camera will not be on him, all the time, and he might get away with ball tampering.
Conclusion
Smith & Warner, you guys have been ambassadors of Australian Cricket for the last 5 years, and I hope you will continue to do so, after you return from the ban of 1 year. Yes, as cricket fans, you have our emotional support and it was not a good sight for us, when you guys broke down during your latest press conference. But, at the same time, both of you cannot deny this fact, that in the bid to win a cricket match at any cost, you guys crossed the line by way too much and let your nation down. So, at the end of the day, the consequences you faced were undoubtedly something both of you deserved.
Comments
Post a Comment