Ball tampering row: Cheats not welcome in any sport
(FILES) In this file picture taken on February 20, 2016, Steve Smith (L) captain of Australia and teammate David Warner (R) wait to start the days play during day one of the second cricket Test match between New Zealand and Australia at the Hagley Park in Christchurch.
Cricket Australia confirmed one year bans for Steve Smith and David Warner on March 28, 2018, following revelations concerning ball-tampering. / AFP PHOTO / Marty MELVILLE The Australian cricket is unlikely to recover from the blow to its public image and to the morale of its team after the visitors were caught tampering with the ball in a tough contest with South Africa. Captain Steve Smith and his deputy, David Warner, were guilty of shaming the entire Australian nation, a great cricket lover, when they encouraged fast bowler Cameron Bancroft to roughen a surface of the ball with a piece of tape. The act was caught on camera for the entire world to see. This was disgraceful in the extreme for a team which has always made winning the sole objective of donning the national colours.
As any Indian would know, Australians play hardball when on the ground, sledging foully all the time, resorting to aggressive tactics and showing little respect for the rival team or for the rules and spirit behind the gentleman’s game. Big money has undoubtedly put an unduly high burden on teams to win somehow, but the Aussies have been particularly nasty on and off the field. Maybe after the humiliating self-goal in South Africa, the Australians will clean up their act. Meanwhile, it is welcome that both Smith and Warner are not to participate in the forthcoming IPL competition. There should be no place for cheats in any sport, least of all in cricket which is India’s lone mass sport.