Cheating Cricketers

I agree to some extent, but a life ban seems harsh. 3 years would be ample.

Although don't forget. It's only cricket.

fatcat posted:

It's only cricket.

What do you mean only?

This was appalling, especially the “leadership team” deciding the most junior player would cheat. The whole,tour has been unpleasant, although there was the comedy moment where the Aussie coach Darren Lehmann has complained about the SA fans abusing the Aussies. Their behaviour seems terrible with reports of abuse aimed at wives and family of the players. The comedy comes because the complaint comes from Lehmann, the man who did a radio interview in 2013 where he accused the Engalnd player Stuart Broad of blatant cheating (for not walking) and exhorted Australian fans to abuse him until he went home crying. Maybe they could have found someone else...

fatcat posted:

It's only cricket.

Exactly. Let them get a real job.

Eoink posted:

This was appalling, especially the “leadership team” deciding the most junior player would cheat. The whole,tour has been unpleasant, although there was the comedy moment where the Aussie coach Darren Lehmann has complained about the SA fans abusing the Aussies. Their behaviour seems terrible with reports of abuse aimed at wives and family of the players. The comedy comes because the complaint comes from Lehmann, the man who did a radio interview in 2013 where he accused the Engalnd player Stuart Broad of blatant cheating (for not walking) and exhorted Australian fans to abuse him until he went home crying. Maybe they could have found someone else...

Sportsmanship seems to have completely deserted this bunch of entitled, overpaid, privileged prats.

smith should have a ban  ,   but not banned when they are not playing a series .. lets say a 6 month ban   that is 26 weeks of international cricket.    TESTS    also banned totally has captain..   THE AUSSIES wont do it , banning there best batsman  . do think so.

Where is our good friend Nick from Suffolk on this thread?

He is usually quite opinionated when it comes to Aussie cricket.

At least this disgrace gives us an opportunity to reply to a couple of his remarks from the Ashes 2017/18 thread:

'Stokes belongs in jail, with the key thrown away'.....with Smith as his cell mate perhaps.

'How few brain cells are needed to qualify as a member of the Barmy Army?'......a few more than Cameron Bancroft possesses maybe.

Ray

Well done Cricket Australia for conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.

They have acted decisively to impose a proportionate and serious punishment on the players involved which will hurt them in the pocket and in reputation but doesn't go so far as to end their careers.

It now transpires that they had even lied at the press conference after being found out- the yellow tape was in fact sand paper which would be ideal for roughing one side of the ball.

It must have hurt the Aussie authorities a great deal to administer such punishments on two of their best players but they have not shied away from it and should be commended for upholding the spirit of the game. Its a pity our ECCB didn't have the same size balls when it came to the Stokes affair.

Ray

Stokes wasn't cheating at cricket!

thebigfredc posted:

Well done Cricket Australia for conducting a thorough investigation into the matter.

They have acted decisively to impose a proportionate and serious punishment on the players involved which will hurt them in the pocket and in reputation but doesn't go so far as to end their careers.

It now transpires that they had even lied at the press conference after being found out- the yellow tape was in fact sand paper which would be ideal for roughing one side of the ball.

It must have hurt the Aussie authorities a great deal to administer such punishments on two of their best players but they have not shied away from it and should be commended for upholding the spirit of the game. Its a pity our ECCB didn't have the same size balls when it came to the Stokes affair.

Ray

 

I didn't get the ECB approach to the Stokes affair. Drop him from the team after the fracas, then select him when he's charged.  It seems a bit backwards. On this basis, if he's found not guilty they'll drop him and if he's found guilty they'll pick him.

Dozey posted:

Stokes wasn't cheating at cricket!

I didn't say he was.

I used the term 'Stokes affair' relating to his post-nightclub street brawl/assault.

His conduct surely brought the game into disrepute,and he is, like Warner for Australian,  in a leadership role as the Vice-Captain.

The ECCB, in contrast to CA, seem more interested in having him back in the team than maintaining the name of the game.

Ray

They are Aussies for goodness sake, renowned for being some of the toughest and most competitive sportsman on the planet.  All this feigned surprise is laughable.  

Given the bad spirit in which this test series has been played, in which the Aussies seem to be main protagonists,  it must be especially hurtful for them to be 'outed' in such a public manner, particularly as they seem destined to lose the series so will be labelled 'bad losers' as well as cheats.     

The game has gone from a terrestrial TV must to watch, to a Sky exclusive........this is a game that’s going south, they really did not need this.

Gazza posted:

The game has gone from a terrestrial TV must to watch, to a Sky exclusive........this is a game that’s going south, they really did not need this.

The last Ashes were on BT sport, just to add to the difficulty. 

I watched a lot of the last ashes series on BT. I’d say Smith appeared phycologically in a bad place, particularly when fielding. He seemed on the verge of a nervous breakdown when something minor didn’t go his way, and this was when the Aussies where thrashing England in the series.

A ban is obviously the correct decision, but, perhaps he deserves a bit of sympathy, if he can’t handle the stress, he can’t handle the stress. And he’s now in a more stressful situation.

thebigfredc posted:

Dozey posted:

Stokes wasn't cheating at cricket!

I didn't say he was.

I used the term 'Stokes affair' relating to his post-nightclub street brawl/assault.

His conduct surely brought the game into disrepute,and he is, like Warner for Australian,  in a leadership role as the Vice-Captain.

The ECCB, in contrast to CA, seem more interested in having him back in the team than maintaining the name of the game.

Ray

 

Stokes has so far only been guilty of being out late at night. For this he has missed an Ashes series - a very severe punishment. The affray charge has yet to be heard and as far as I know people are still innocent until proven guilty in this country.

I'm rather enjoying the current England tour of NZ. The test was played in good spirits with a result in 3 playing days. What's not to like?

Talk of Smith not handling stress, his tearful press conference this morning illustrated the point. Not very Aussie-like at all. 

Eoink posted:

Gazza posted:

The game has gone from a terrestrial TV must to watch, to a Sky exclusive........this is a game that’s going south, they really did not need this.

The last Ashes were on BT sport, just to add to the difficulty. 

I recently moved from Sky to BT in part to catch the Ashes series. In the event, England's woeful performance  put me off watching much of it (can't blame BT for that!).    

Pev posted:

thebigfredc posted:

Dozey posted:

Stokes wasn't cheating at cricket!

I didn't say he was.

I used the term 'Stokes affair' relating to his post-nightclub street brawl/assault.

His conduct surely brought the game into disrepute,and he is, like Warner for Australian,  in a leadership role as the Vice-Captain.

The ECCB, in contrast to CA, seem more interested in having him back in the team than maintaining the name of the game.

Ray

 

Stokes has so far only been guilty of being out late at night. For this he has missed an Ashes series - a very severe punishment. The affray charge has yet to be heard and as far as I know people are still innocent until proven guilty in this country.

Hi Pev,

Erm...being out late at night is definitely not a crime.

And yes it is the case in this country that our law is based on the presumption of innocence and for that we can all be grateful including Stokes.

But for people who represent us in sport we, the public, expect them to adhere to decent standards of conduct. So it would be entirely reasonable for the relevant authority to ask somebody who would appear to have transgressed if they had in fact done so and should they reply in the affirmative then it would be correct for the authority to take appropriate actions in order to preserve the reputation of the sport, even ahead of legal proceedings which can of course take a very long time.

The NFL is excellent at doing this.

Ray

Hi Ray 

I believe Stokes is pleading not guilty. I live near Bristol and from what I hear it may be that Stokes was (perhaps foolishly) intervening to stop a homophobic assault.

However it pans out in court I think he has already been severely punished in respect of his cricketing career.

The media frenzy here in Australia is the worst I have ever seen. The pitchfork brigade have beed baying for blood for 4 days straight. Quite frankly it is disgusting to see, even had a moron from a lowest common deniminator FM radio show hijack Steve Smith presser after the stress he was under and straight after his flight from SA. Gutter journos at their ugliest, it's like are baiting the general public put rabid snakes in all three houses and set them on fire. 

It is just a game, all the carry on here is like they run over someones child and drove off. Punish them yes, then move on for Gods sake. 

crackie posted:

The media frenzy here in Australia is the worst I have ever seen. The pitchfork brigade have beed baying for blood for 4 days straight. Quite frankly it is disgusting to see, even had a moron from a lowest common deniminator FM radio show hijack Steve Smith presser after the stress he was under and straight after his flight from SA. Gutter journos at their ugliest, it's like are baiting the general public put rabid snakes in all three houses and set them on fire. 

It is just a game, all the carry on here is like they run over someones child and drove off. Punish them yes, then move on for Gods sake. 

I'm torn here. I hate to see people emotionally destroyed of course. If the sportspeople were playing for a profit-driven corporation like they would be in the NRL or AFL, then the cheating is perhaps a less emotional matter for the public and by inference, the press. But these cheating grubs were playing for, i.e. representing Australia. The Australian populace arguably have a right to feel betrayed. The media are feeding off that for clicks.

Mostly agree. But lets be honest here, it's been going on since WG Grace's day. What these three are guilty of (in addition to the charge of ball tampering) are being the most stupid muppets in the history of the game.

With 30+ cameras covering their every move, and then panic set in when it was all over every tv screen in the ground. The extra CA punishment , for me, was for being so incredibly stupid in the first place the think a. They could ever not be seen to do the action and b. Think it would all blow over with a quick sorry at the end of the days play.  

The one head that is left to roll for me is James Sutherland, the CEO of 17 years mind you. That greedy muppet was/is only ever concerned with keeping his high paying job and ensuring the "brand of CA" is not damaged further. This is achieved by throwing these 3 players under a very big bus and by doing so keeping intact, as much as possible, the brand value for the revised media rights contract up for grabs very, very soon. 

Three days to come up with these sanctions ? Come on, these take weeks / months in any other organisation as big as his. It was/is all about damage control and appeasing the lynch mobs to save the "CA brand any further damage" and stuff all about procedural fairness in ensuring the correct and proportional punishment is delivered.

Saying oh well everybody does it and basically their crime was getting caught doesn't cut it I'm afraid.  They are very, very well paid professional sportsmen representing their countries on the world stage.  Bancroft and Smith especially paid not only for cheating but also for their sniggering schoolboy antics back during the Ashes tests when they and just about every other Australian I met had much fun humiliating members of the English cricket team and having a good laugh at their expense .  Yes it was only banter and probably in part deserved but when you behave like that you had better make sure the recipients of your p*** taking don't get a chance to have a pop back.

The fact that they are so good as players and as a team made it so much worse that rather than be beaten they would resort to cheating and I think in part it was that that made people, ordinary people not blessed with such talent and such adulation and wealth so angry.  

Beating teams so comprehensibly because you are so good and then taking the p*** or then attempting to cheat rather than being beaten fair and square is just not cricket! And thinking that you could all just say sorry and turn up and play the next day showed quite breath taking arrogance.

We have a saying here in England, ' If you can't take it then don't give it' so as individuals as a team and as a sporting nation you are just going to have to suck it up I'm afraid.

Personally I think the reason that punishments were dealt so quickly was because the whole affair was so embarrassing and CA just wanted it to go away,  I mean this was their captain and their vice captain what else could they do?