Test Match Cricket

Messing with the surface of a cricket ball is literally the worst thing anybody can ever do.

It dwarfs premeditated murder and paedophilia as a crime.

These men should be hanged- in fact that would be too good for them.

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There’s been a major falling out between Warner and the rest of the squad. Apparently he was drinking in the hotel bar after the third now infamous test and generally making a knob of himself.
The players have asked that he be removed from the rest of the playing group. He’s toast and CA will likely now make him out to be the villain of the piece and totally drop him.in it, an easy sacrifice to meet.
There is already a narrative appearing here that Smith knew nothing about it but then took responsibility to cover for Bancroft, after Warner put him up to it. Which is all bullshit of course.

One thing though. The Poms need to chill the beans here. The likes of Atherton with his history especially. They keep on with this shit and plenty will come out about them too.

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Indeed, he speaks with such authority on these matters.

I hope Ditzys citizenship is revoked for this treachery

I can’t believe it’s come to this, but the only solution I see is:

  1. a test match pocketless trousers rule to be adopted; and

  2. the total banning of plasters, rings and all hand/finger/wrist adornments.

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Elegant and simple solutions. You always manage to see the wood from the trees mate.

Players would then merely resort to keeping sandpaper or other ball tampering-enabling equipment in either a shirt pocket or specially adapted pocketed underwear.

I don’t see any solution to this other than a strip search and interrogation for each player as they enter the pitch.

I said it here yesterday, Warner will never play for Oz again. Still, he’s 32 now and he can earn a few quid playing 20 20 leagues.

Presume CA will block their NOCs for any period of suspension?

Presume so.

Your efforts at deflection about a minor incident involving England a quarter of a century are not fooling anyone. You’ll be bringing Bodyline into it next.

The line from the Gene Hackman character Rupert Anderson in Mississippi Burning about these supposed fault lines in the Australian dressing room spring to mind - “Looks like the rattlesnakes are starting to commit suicide”.

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I see they’ve called the English lad Renshaw up for the last test as a replacement for Bancroft. Apparently he wasn’t picked for the Ashes because he’s less of a cunt than Cam.

Press conference at 6pm.

Jeff Boycott smacked women you sick cunt, have you no shame?

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Nothing relevant to say about the test series in South Africa? Go back to the Chelsea thread and continue your cheerleading for paedophile/rape cover ups.

Change your username you sick cunt

Johannesburg: Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are facing “significant sanctions” over Australia’s ball-tampering scandal, according to Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland, but coach Darren Lehmann appears set to survive for now at least.

Due to an ongoing investigation it will not be until Wednesday local time here that penalties against Smith, Warner and Bancroft are announced, but the trio would be sent back to Australia on Wednesday.

In an indication of the severity of the sanctions expected, particularly against Smith and Warner, Sutherland confirmed CA would come down very hard to “reflect the gravity of the situation”.

He said it had been established that only three players had prior knowledge of the scandalous episode during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands on Saturday.
While Smith, Warner and Bancroft are facing the music - lengthy bans are expected, and Smith and Warner are set to be stripped of the captaincy and vice-captaincy respectively - Sutherland denied reports that Lehmann was resigning. The head coach’s position will be scrutinised, however, in an upcoming independent review of the culture of the Australian team.

“No other players or support staff had prior knowledge. This includes Darren Lehmann,” Sutherland said.

“He will continue to coach the Australian men’s team under his current contract (which runs until the end of the 2019 Ashes).”

Sutherland raised eyebrows when he refused to utter the ‘c’ word after being asked repeatedly by reporters whether what had transpired in Cape Town was cheating.
“This is not in the laws of the game,” he said when probed on the subject. “It’s not in the spirit of the game, and again I am angry and disappointed.”

Asked again whether it was cheating, he said: “It is not a good day for Australian cricket.”
Sutherland also refused to declare whether or not Smith could lead Australia again in the future.
Wicketkeeper Tim Paine has officially been appointed as the caretaker captain, rubber-stamped by the CA board as the country’s 46th Test skipper.

Warner has been painted as the central character of the dressing-room conversation in the lunch break on the third day of the match that led to Bancroft using yellow tape to try and alter the condition of the ball - and then being sprung trying to cover it up by hiding it down his underpants.

There has also been a fall-out between some players over where responsibility for the behaviour lies.

Sutherland, however, was unable to reveal whose idea it was to bring a foreign object onto the ground to use on the ball.

“There are issues that I can’t go into because we’re in the midst of process,” he said.
“I suspect some of that will come out in due course but it’s not appropriate because of the technical nature of things and the process that we’re working through for me to divulge details of the investigation.”

With the fourth Test starting on Friday, the three replacement players for Smith, Warner and Bancroft are Matthew Renshaw, Glenn Maxwell and Joe Burns.

Smith, Warner and Bancroft were reported for breaching article 2.3.5 of CA’s code of conduct, which relates to play that is unfair or against the spirit of the game.
“I understand the appetite for urgency given the reputation of Australia as a sporting nation has been damaged in the eyes of many. However, urgency must be balanced with due process given the serious implications for all involved," Sutherland said.

“In addition to sanctions for individuals, Cricket Australia will initiate an independent review into the conduct and culture of our Australian men’s teams.

“We will have more to say about this review in the coming days, but it will be conducted by an expert panel who will report to the Cricket Australia Board."

Sutherland met with a “distraught” Smith at the Australian team’s hotel in the city’s Sandton district late on Tuesday afternoon, local time, before fronting a packed news conference in another nearby hotel.

Earlier, the CEO had been briefed by CA’s head of integrity Iain Roy, who had conducted interviews with players and staff in Cape Town, and executive general manager of team performance Pat Howard.

There was then a lengthy telephone hook-up between Sutherland and CA directors, who had sat up late in Australia to discuss the fate of those found to be complicit in the affair.
Smith and Warner had already stood down from their leadership positions for the fourth and ultimately final day of the third Test on Monday and Smith had been suspended by the International Cricket Council from the last match of the series.

And none of the bowlers knew a thing.
Dear me.
What kind of cretins do they take people for?

Most people don’t care about a bit of gamesmanship

That’s because you’re Italian and cheating is ok when you’re Italian.