Australia VS South Africa 4 Test Series

[PowerBug]

"BREAKING: Steve Smith and David Warner have stood down as captain and vice-captain for the remainder of this Test."

"BREAKING: Tim Paine to act as captain for the remainder of this Test match."

[crowls]

"BREAKING: Steve Smith and David Warner have stood down as captain and vice-captain for the remainder of this Test."

"BREAKING: Tim Paine to act as captain for the remainder of this Test match."

Great move,  glad to hear it.  Just watching news breaking on ABC.

[Dudge]

This ain't good. This is going to stick for ever. Dumb, dumb and dumb wtf

[tbagrocks]

All day long fox sports new has bee showing that replay, maybe 20times every hour. Ok what happened is clearly bad but ffs, oter sports are also happening ::)

Have not heard how Big Daddy Browne went this morning! Demons choke at the G and nothing! They just keep showing the same replay

Also, the cricket in SA has been boring :P

[Levi434]

Also, the cricket in SA has been boring :P

[Levi434]

Seems as though everyone has turned on Smith. Despite the fact he is an all-time great. Averaging 71+ as captain.

I wonder what would happen if Smith was to come out and say he was "contemplating retirement"?

That reaction might be more drastic than the one we are seeing now.

[BB67th]

After having a couple of days to mull it over, some of the calls for life bans for Smith, Warner & co seem a little over the top.

I'd be happy with seeing all involved sent home from the current tour, and maybe miss some of the games we play in the winter (from memory there's an ODI series in Bangladesh coming up?), with none to captain the side again.

There might be a couple of players on a plane over to SA after the shield final wraps up tomorrow!

[crowls]

After having a couple of days to mull it over, some of the calls for life bans for Smith, Warner & co seem a little over the top.

I'd be happy with seeing all involved sent home from the current tour, and maybe miss some of the games we play in the winter (from memory there's an ODI series in Bangladesh coming up?), with none to captain the side again.

There might be a couple of players on a plane over to SA after the shield final wraps up tomorrow!

about how i feel.   dont give a shower what the icc penalty is. (1 game and a fine) this is the australian cricket captain.   Wonder what was going through SS mind at the time.   For me a suspension of some sort, loss of captaincy and never to captain Australia again. 

[Ringo]

Life Bans may be harsh but a 12 month ban would appear appropriate for all those invoved.  Remember Warnie got 12 months for his diuretic tablet so this is similar.

Need to send a message to young kids that in no way is cheating allowed.

[crowls]

Huge series here for the Aussies. I'm not too excited about the prospects of this one as an Australian fan but I am very much looking forward to a ripper series here. Question marks over Bancroft and Mitch Marsh as you'd expect but I also think this is a big series for Warner, Khawaja and Starc. I recon if those 3 play well Australia have a shot of winning.

I'm expecting a 3-1 result(South Africa) but I recon Aussie's would be happy with a 2-2.

Oh and any chance I get to watch Steven Smith I will be there :P

Levi,  thoughts on steve smith?

[shaker]

Life Bans may be harsh but a 12 month ban would appear appropriate for all those invoved.  Remember Warnie got 12 months for his diuretic tablet so this is similar.

Need to send a message to young kids that in no way is cheating allowed.

Yep that sounds right Ringo they need to change the culture in the team remember the players threatened to go on strike for better pay before this tour and this is how they repay it , CA now under huge pressure by sponsors and we are the laughing stock of the cricket world , Warner for one can never keep his mouth shut but as VC has disappeared , not a word ...... time for change.

[enzedder]

Seems as though everyone has turned on Smith. Despite the fact he is an all-time great. Averaging 71+ as captain.

I wonder what would happen if Smith was to come out and say he was "contemplating retirement"?

That reaction might be more drastic than the one we are seeing now.

Interesting isn't it.
For people such as myself who have little more than a passing interest in the game these days, he'll just be remembered as a cheat. I used to love cricket but haven't really given a toss about it in recent years.
Add my name to those who say those involved should be given life bans. They are heroes to kids all around the world. Not only that they are extremely well paid in a game revered in history that frowns strongly on cheating and poor sportsmanship.  No excuses. Only themelves to blame. They deserve everthing they get. Cheating scumbags.

[_wato]

Life ban the flowerers, who gives a flying flower how small the incident was. They admitted to it, everyone saw it.

I will never think of these guys the same again. Unbelievable. Don't really know if I'm interested in following cricket anymore.

[Levi434]

Huge series here for the Aussies. I'm not too excited about the prospects of this one as an Australian fan but I am very much looking forward to a ripper series here. Question marks over Bancroft and Mitch Marsh as you'd expect but I also think this is a big series for Warner, Khawaja and Starc. I recon if those 3 play well Australia have a shot of winning.

I'm expecting a 3-1 result(South Africa) but I recon Aussie's would be happy with a 2-2.

Oh and any chance I get to watch Steven Smith I will be there :P

Levi,  thoughts on steve smith?

Steven Smith is an all-time legend. Averaged 70 as captain whilst Ponting, Clarke, SWaugh, Border, Taylor etc only averaged 49-52. He has also captained more games than not already.

Smith should honestly just retire. Then he retires as the greatest batsman any of us will likely ever witness. He is honestly a victim of his own greatness. The public have just come to expect him to be great that anything else isn't good enough. His average is other player's great. Stemming from his origins as a part-time legspinner, it seems the public hasn't gotten over themselves and the fact they were wrong.

All of this has been drastically blown out of proportion by the media and Australian people who we didn't know were cricket fans until a few days ago. Those who were hiding or disinterested a few weeks ago; all of a sudden are the centre of conversation and now apparent experts on all things cricket, perhaps, after not even watching 1 delivery of the series up until then. Even our own Prime Minister thought it was in his best interests to come out and say something instead of focus on whatever he was supposed to be doing that day. Not to mention Smith has been failed by those above him. It's not a stretch to say that Smith has played in one of the worst Australian teams in history over the past 3-5 years and despite that he still has a winning record and has meant more to the team than any other player in history.

Not to mention he is still only 28 and you'd think should be the centrepiece of the Australian team for the next 8-10 years. It is honestly baffling that he's even been sacked. If this was so bad why did Bancroft NOT even get suspended? You know why? It's because this sort of stuff happens in every single cricket match. The ICC deemed this to be a moderate misconduct. It is on the same level as making an obscene gesture. Rabada got a 2 match ban for a small bump. That was a greater misconduct than this. The MAXIMUM penalty for this instance as outlined in their rules is: a fine and suspension for 1 (one) test. If players got fired/sacked/stood down in every case like this there wouldn't be cricket to watch.

There is only one rule we have with sports and that is winning. In any sport and in any country. Sports players are constantly and fairly placed on a pedestal which means that they on-field play is invariable to their moral decisions and vice-versa. Hence, a bad person off the field doesn't mean they are a bad player on the field. Nor a good player eqivilate to a good person. Josh Gordon has had 5+ doping violations in the NFL but he is still there. Ben Cousins is someone everyone absolutely adores watching but still hasn't fully regained control of his life after the numerous bad decisions he's made. Jon Jones has been done for PED's multiple times but the fans cheer for him over a countryman who represented them in the Olympics. Barry Bonds was so clearly cheating in baseball but will still make the Hall of Fame next year. Matthew Lodge went on a violent rampage in America, but is already back playing NRL in Australia.

Why does all of this happen? As sports fans winning means everything. Sponsors, executives, boards all feel the same way. Talent isn't free-flowing and there is always a shortage of talent. Therefore if you have it you deserve the chances. In the end; the loss of Steve Smith will be far more drastic. The constant distress watching our team lose whilst the best player in the world sits on the sidelines will make us all frustrated, angry and distant. Most importantly this distance is why test match cricket is failing. We can't have any more of it.

[PowerBug]

12, 12, 9 months for the three involved. I think that's the last time Warner plays test cricket.