I dont think we will be seeing Smith and Warner in Test Cricket for a while and I expect Boof to be gone.
This is easily the worst scandal by an Australian Captain in any major sport.
I dont think we will be seeing Smith and Warner in Test Cricket for a while and I expect Boof to be gone.
This is easily the worst scandal by an Australian Captain in any major sport.
What does rubbing sugar on the ball actually do?
Nice to wake up to actually a decent effort at saving the Test. Don’t fancy Broad hanging around for much longer for this around the wicket barrage though.
The whole of south Asia now playing the race card as they think Smith has got off lightly. Clueless fucks should realise the ICC penalty for actual ball tampering is rightly fuck all, CA will probably order beheadings for the deception element if the current PR climate is anything to go by.
There is definitely a certain irony, both historical (obvious) and more recent (Broad the Enforcer!), that were are so completely susceptible to bodyline style bowling these days.
Current crop is the softest England side mentally that I've seen. 90s crop would smash these tossers.
We're susceptible to pretty much any bowling strategy that's reasonably well executed, really. Bowl them all outside the stumps? That's fine, we'll have a waft. Want somebody to wilt against aggressive bowling? No problem! Panic against spin? We're the guys for you.
I was thinking the same thing this morning.
I've never played proper cricket, so I can't understand how Wagner is so effective. He's only got one trick. You know he's going to bowl bouncers. Just duck them.
Modern day players are all compulsive shot players and can't leave the ball, whether that's hooking or dabbing outside off.
Not surprising when retards scream SLOW at anyone with a strike rate under .650.
Apart from that time Tendulkar was caught doing it and World War 3 nearly started.
Theresa May doing a statement on it was fucking bonkers. Presumably her press release on Sam Northeast's move to Hampshire wasn't picked up by the agencies.
Fuck me Steve Smith needs to move to another Country. The level of hatred is out of control Ive never seen anything like it the poor bastard.
It's definitely getting over-the-top here.
Give him what they gave Faf, top it up a bit because we've been so sanctimonious about it in the past, and call it a day.
Warner is fair game though.
Edit: And Boof the massive coward!
Last edited by Queenslander; 27-03-2018 at 04:18 AM.
Would you guys be keeping Smith on as captain?
Not a chance. I dont want him anywhere near the team for 1-2 years (part of it is for his own mental health he is loathed down here atm). I dont want Warner to ever play for Australia again he is just too much of a distraction and he is genuinely an awful human being.
Last edited by Queenslander; 27-03-2018 at 09:37 AM.
Don’t hate Smith tbh. Warner’s downfall though
To be fair, the narrative has already started to set Warner up as chief conspirator with Smith being at fault for being 'naive'
I smell another 'brainfade'
You'd need a brain in the first place though.
This is some story arc for Smith in a (relatively) short career. Starts off as a comedy twirler with 'good chat' and not much else, becomes Bradman mkII and then, at the peak of his powers/popularity, turns ultimate heel. Warner has been more consistently a bellend throughout.
It's funny to see how few people can resist sticking the boot in. Did I see some sort of grainy video of Bancroft loading his pockets with 'sugar' during an Ashes test on tv yesterday?
That Stuart Broad did that press conference without melting with mirth is to his great credit.
Bob Willis LIVE on Sky Sports News for his reaction to the press conference, what a time to be alive.
Laughable cop out from the suits to blame only Smith, Warner and Bancroft.
I can't believe they've started a secondary cover-up, it's ridiculously poor . Lehmann is bang to rights and probably the ring leader if we're being honest. He has to go and Sutherland has added his name to the list by trying to save the others/what's left of their TV rights value.
Also, how is it remotely possible that none of the bowlers (that's the blokes who bowl the ball, for those new to cricket) knew it was being tampered with?
'Boof the coward' for the rest of his life.
Genuine question: I've grown up disliking Australian sport because they take a distinctly dark arts side of the game whether that was in Rugby, Cricket or even Football (where the main strength has always been an elbow to the face).
Why is the country so up in arms about this, did they believe their own hype thinking they were the only ones who didn't cheat? Or did they just think they didn't cheat like this? Is this like if an English player took a dive and got sent off for it in a WC 1/4 final that they lost? as in no-one would care if you'd done it to win a pen but if you do it and fail then you're a disgrace to the shirt?
I'm confused.
Silver lining: Renshaw and Maxwell belong in the test team. I'm glad they get a crack.
'The line' as a concept needs consigning to the history books.
I love that it was (as was widely pointed out at the time) in fact sandpaper these goons were using.
This must be, literally, the worst conspiracy in sporting history.
Have Australia got any meaningful series in the next 12 months?
They're coming to us for some no-longer-pointless ODIs in the summer (hold onto your hats), then they go to 'Pakistan' in the autumn, and their home summer is against India and Sri Lanka.
I think my favourite aspect of this is the Rajasthan Royals, restored to the IPL this year after a two-year ban for match fixing, deeming Smith's actions beyond the pale and sacking him.
Also, a year-long ban is ludicrously over-the-top given the tap on the wrist everyone else gets when they ball tamper. The official penalty is a one-match ban and 75% of your match fee, right?
I assume it's part of this somewhat baffling media frenzy. Bugger me.
Ital
In other news Cricket Sadist Hour is back
The idea of there being a 'line' means basically 'We're going to be cunts and proud of it, but we'll try not to do anything which we can get cited for'.
If you start off by being decent people and respecting your opponents (even if it's Bangladesh), the rest should slot nicely into place.
You have to differentiate the official punishments given by ICC (which are for ball tampering) and the moral guardian punishments given by CA (which are for PR and sponsorship/brand value reasons). I'd have just stripped Smith of the captaincy and left it at that. Bancroft should have got no further action, or maybe a couple of games ban tops, and with Warner it's a moot point because he's now played his last international game anyway.
What would they have got for pissing on the wall of the Don Bradman house, ten years?
See, this is a case of different attitudes. Australians basically expect their team to do exactly what you describe in the first sentence, with the caveat that it should stay on the field. You're fine to buy them a beer after the game, of course. Practically expected to.
He's got too many previous convictions and it sounds like everyone hates him (and has possibly stitched him up a bit in the report).
If Warner was indeed the brains behind the operation then a) no wonder they got caught and b) Smith and Lehmann must be the weakest leaders imaginable. How Lehmann has got away with it (so far) is anyone's guess, I'd have fired him days ago simply for being the coach when all this occurred.
James Vince recalled for the second Test, all our problems are solved.
Im a deadset gutted for Smith.
Maybe this is just my perception as somebody who only really has any awareness of him when he does something dickheady but where Smith looks genuinely crushed I imagine Warner is cutting about more annoyed to have been caught.
The more I see of this, the more I think it's a massive crock. At most, they should've been suspended for this tour and the next. Tops. The Player's Association are starting to make some noise too, and rightfully so.
I half-think Smith should retire, just to make a point.
James Sutherland is a weasel though, he'll have got on that plane to SA thinking of one thing only which is the value of TV rights packages.
We'll have Smith if you don't want him, qualifies for England I believe. Shame Surrey signed Mitch Marsh before all this happened.
And there goes 'Boof'.
Hang on a second, did that happen yesterday?