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Australia V South Africa

Smith has been fined 100% of his match fee. Bancroft 75%, and picks up three demerit points.

(Unless the Australian Cricket folks do the necessary, nothing will happen).
 
Yah but they you sound like Ryan when he talks about the English! :)

Steven Smith has been suspended for one Test by the ICC

Yeah, but I'm only joking. The Irish are rarely joking when it comes to their bitterness towards the English.

One match. The Aussie board will add to that.
 
wow, such brazen cheating is met with minimal sanctions.

surely cheating is more against the spirit of the game than physical / mental violations ?

Its similar with football I guess.
 
Australia was going really well - 60+ without loss, and then Warner went for a suicide single and Faf took care of the run out. That started a ~30 ball spell where Australia lost 4 wickets for 2 runs ... 65/4 with a 400+ target.
 
By the way LTW, yes, all teams try and manipulate the ball, but it has to be said, the means being used here, and the cowardly and manipulative use of the team's most junior player are absolutely anomalous. Teams commonly have someone sucking a sweet, and apply sticky saliva to the ball. This isn't actually against the rules even though it is stretching them to the limit. Any time this has happened before, Atherton rubbing dirt from his pocket, Afridi and other cases, a senior player (often the team captain) has took the decision and it has looked relatively spontaneous. This has been carefully planned and co-ordinated in a manner I'm not sure I've ever seen, and it does make one wonder at how the Australians managed to generate so much more swing than England in the Ashes...
 
Smith is out ... Morkel again ... 86/5

WOWZES ... and another for Morkel with another catch from AB!

86/6 ... let's see how much the tail wags before we close out the test.
 
Jeepers. Last time I looked it was 50-odd without loss.

I feel for the Aussies a little. What a massively demoralising situation.

Back to Leadership Group 101 for the leadership group.
 
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SA win by 322 runs ...
Australia have lost all ten of their wickets for 50 runs in the space of 19.4 overs
 
After Ryan's first post, I was worried Starc would demolish us ... but let's be honest, he's not been close to being the best bowler on his team - let alone both teams - since the 1st inning. Rabada is by far the most intimidating, dominant bowler in this series ... To think he's just a 21 ...
 
Rabada is incredible. Starc will seemingly always blow hot and cold .ABdV is insane .

Great cricket sides but this series will always be marred by what happened yesterday .
 
So, some weekend.

A few random thoughts on this:

  1. I agree with Michael Vaughan primarily on this one. The issues of fines, suspensions, losing captaincy, etc is - whilst important in the short-term - irrelevent in the long term as Smith, Warner, and whomever else are gonna have to live with this one for ever, and that's the biggest impact for them. Their reputation is utterly tarnished here.
  2. Whilst disgusted, I can't say I'm that surprised. Yes by smith admittedly, no by Warner. This has been coming to some extent for a while now. I called Warner's attitude on here like everyone else, the minor-but-still-relevent dropping of the ball on AB by Lyon, the "knowing the line" stuff - all pre-cursors to a team that believes it's ahead of the game. Even Lyon's attitude towards England before they arrived for the Ashes - there's confidence, and then there's being a fucking dick. This group of players got way way ahead of themselves. That sympathy was in seriously short supply for them after the De Kock sledging incident tells you how they're viewed in the eyes of the greater world. The boy who cried wolf to the fucking extremes.
  3. I've got mates seriously close to the Australian set-up, and have been 'fortunate' enough to have spent my own time in several of the players' company over the last few years. The perceptions from the outset that everyone's throwing around over the last 24 hours are from my experience, and to a great extent from people I trust are entirely accurate. Big-headed, arrogant, aloof, and as a good mate puts it "fucking smug cunts". You reap what you sow I guess.
  4. Sure Smith loses the captaincy, that's a given. Same for Warner in his paltry support role. And they'll get some form of ban - 12 months or whatever - but when that ends, what then? Do the public here support them when they hit from and make a ton? What about if they're in the side that wins the next Ashes say - how do you reconcile that victory with who they are and what they've shown they're prepared to do? Again I agree with Vaughan that they'll all come back and play well - as Atherton, Faf, etc have done - but who takes pride in that. Not then, and most certainly not the fucking public. These are cheats, and that's the long and the very short of it.
  5. And lastly; for those of you not in Australia - I can tell you this has disgusted everyone here. Sympathy and excuses are in zero supply. Every single Australian I know, every media outlet, every commentator, man on the street is appalled by this. They weren't loved to begin with, they're fucking hated now.

And rightly so. It's the worst kind of shit really. Smart-arsed fuckers thinking they're bigger than the game. The fact that it wasn't an isolated incident from one player tells the whole story here in my view - because collectively, as a fucking group, they got togethor and all thought this was a good idea, and something worth pursuing. Not a rogue player, someone you can scapegoat and claim "doesn't represent us". A group of players. Of supposed fucking leaders. And that the coach watched it unfold, and tried to exacerbate it further was the ultimate. Smug, arrogant, fucking idiots. Fuck the lot of them.
 
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Thanks for that perspective Ryan. Your posts are always an informative read. Whereas in this thread I have enjoyed a little bit of gloating, I will say that while I dislike Australian sports I have never met an Aussie I disliked. Glad to hear that the public perception is so strongly against this.
 
Pitiful 'punishment'. Smith & Warner should be banned from all forms of cricket for minimum 12 months.
 
Awww, so sweet!

New video just emerged showing Bancroft putting sugar in his pocket during the Ashes in January.

https://m.sport24.co.za/Cricket/Pro...ing-shocking-footage-suggests-he-was-20180326

Saw this yesterday and was about to share. I bet there are teams going through hours and hours of footage from recent tests. There is zero chance that this was the first time it has happened.

I also don't imagine other teams aren't also attempting 'innovative' things like this - but I am glad this has happened as players are realising they have no way of doing it in the age of cameras everywhere.

Would be interesting to see what impact it has on bowlers stats - surely the bowlers should lose the wickets they've taken in a test where they've cleared had an altered ball. Do that, and those involved will really feel the impact rather than monetary fines.
 
Even Lyon's attitude towards England before they arrived for the Ashes

What happened here?

Btw, thoughts on the South African kids (as the team will be radically different in the next 2-3 years once AB, Faf, Amla, Morks, Philander and Steyn retire)?

Markram looks like our best opener since Hudson imo.
 
Just to echo what Ryan said in his very good post. Having lived in Oz and have got many Oz friends and indeed happen to be married to an Aussie - They are shocked, embarrassed and appalled. CA will throw the book at the cunts and rightly so. I think that the official inquiry is rocking up in the next day or two - I wonder what their ultimate punishment will be? I'm guessing immediate 12 month ban for at least 3 players. Lehman (who has yet to speak about it!) Sacked. Given the level of outrage though I wouldn't be surprised if it was more and indeed more than 3 players.

As much as I'm not a fan of the Aussie team (talented though they are) I do adore cricket so this is a sad time for the sport.
 
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Sad to see. I guess Trevor Chappell might feel relieved that after all this time he's no longer regarded as Aussie cricket's fool of all fools.
 
I love that right next to that Steve (The massive cheat) Smith pic @StevieM posted there is a book called 'Defeating Terror' by David Craig - I first read that and thought 'Fuck me - Look at that! He's finally admitting that '7 days' instills terror and revulsion in anyone that listens to it! Then I realised I was sleep deprived and mixing stuff up. Oh well. Soz Craig. I read somewhere that he plays footy so maybe he's ok - Just his music is a massive bag of shit.
 
Sad to see. I guess Trevor Chappell might feel relieved that after all this time he's no longer regarded as Aussie cricket's fool of all fools.
Front page of the Aussie Telegraph - He's quoted as saying exactly that. Underarm bowling bellend!
 
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