Cheating

Yes there's been a definite change in mood over here. People saying the bans are too harsh etc and players mental health should come first. Smith did look broken and whilst I feel for him he also presided over his vice-captain co-ercing a junior player into taking sandpaper onto the field in a pre-meditated attempt to cheat - and he did nothing to stop it. Yes it is sad to see the fallout at a human level but at the end of the day he undermined the entire ethos of captaining Australia and thats what he will have to live with now. He's got his family to look after him and no doubt he will be back.

Apparently he and Warner were booked on seperate flights for a reason. Expecting some additional fireworks in that regard. Pass the popcorn somebody...

Yes, Smith in particular is going to get FLOGGED by the barmy army when he comes back, no doubt about that.

True, but I’m not convinced it will be that long. Rumblings that CA will shorten the bans if they threaten to appeal. If it kept to 12 months will they be in the sort of form that would lead to their selection?

They pre-meditated cheating and they got handed their punishments by their own cricketing body. They should just sit down, shut up and take their medicine. It will make a total mockery of CA if they appeal and CA drop their bundle and backtrack on the punishments. Who is actually driving the bus here ffs?

offer to reduce their bans if they reveal who else was in on it. Trouble is they might lose most of their team

Yes, I saw that. Accepting it is good and would make Warner’s likely appeal more likely to fail. Warner, I would imagine, will use the ICC not punishing him as the reason for his appeal. If it comes. The more that comes out and the reaction of the players makes it seem apparent that there is a divide amongst them.

Didn’t really want to bump this back up but I was interested today to see Justin Langer appointed Australian Coach in the wake of the cheating scandal. This comes some days after CA announce that they are holding a review into the Australians previous behaviour and the way they will conduct themselves in the future. With all these attempts at trying to re-invent themselves I have to say I am finding it all a bit of a sideshow. Im sure this review is a genuine attempt to rewrite the way they do things but I will be surprised if anything tangible comes out of it now that JL has been appointed. I really like the guy, I think he was the best thing to happen to Somerset for a long time when he was appointed but he was a very uncompromising cricketer who shook Somerset up and really instilled into them a “win-at-all-costs-within-the rules-policy”. On the field he really pressed the opposition, I seem to remember very few friendly, banter like moments. I have no problem with that and we became a very well oiled cricketing team which steamrolled the opposition in Division 2 to win and gain promotion and do very well in Division 1. But he was very hard on the opposition always chirping at them and on his own players, patrolling mid on and mid off with a pretty stern countenance.
With his appointment I suspect we will see a very determined side who will not give an inch and who will press the opposition on the field. But he is a stickler, imo, for doing things the correct way and he wouldn’t be part of what happened in South Africa. He will play by the rules although he might stretch them a bit, but that would not include cheating or doing something that could be construed as such. I think Australia will become a much harder, meaner team who will still comment and give the opposition some grief, although they will do it with a bit of a smile on their faces. It will be much more attritional I would imagine. I also expect to see Cameron Bancroft back in the squad as soon as his ban has finished. It was Langer who advised Somerset over Bancroft in the first place and Langer and Andy Hurry, the Somerset Cricket Director, are friendly and with both being Western Australians I expect Bancroft to come back. Steve Smith will also get a recall. But with David Warner I’m not so sure, I have a feeling Langer will do without him.