Darren Lehmann slips through as Cricket Australia tightens the noose By Greg Baum
Slowly, because this is cricket, the noose tightens. As it does, the wriggle room narrows.
It is apparent now that although this is a crisis for all of Australian cricket, indeed Australian sport, the locus of the problem is very much the national team.
Australian cricket coach Darren Lehmann was cleared by Cricket Australia.
For a long time, it has operated as its own retreat, a discreet unit within the Australian cricket landscape, and isolated from it. This is evident in the universal disgust of other players, ex-players and officials, all who are now outside the hermitage or never were in it. In that context, coach Darren Lehmann's position - though apparently not threatened now -will remain vexed.
Only in such a cloister could a plot like this have evolved. The tampering offence itself is commonplace, with this distinction: a foreign object was used to expedite it, an object hastily tailored in the moment for the specific purpose. For this, there is is not even an oblique defence.
But it is the plotting that is the true crime, the wilful deception, the surreptitious maneuvering, the brazenness.
As Cricket Australia chairman David Peever said in a rare offering: “This issue goes beyond the technical nature of the offences and various codes of conduct. It is about the integrity and reputation of Australian Cricket and Australian sport."
In a word, it is the one word that chief executive James Sutherland refused to say, presumably on legal advice. It is cheating. Only in their bat cave could this not have occurred to the plotters.
But the focus grows narrower still. CA's investigation has refined it to three players.
Cam Bancroft had to go; he was the perpetrator. Last November, we laughed when he said he had the heaviest head in the West Australian team. If only a sliver of awareness could have penetrated that density now. He is an innocent, but not that innocent.
James Sutherland, the head of Cricket Australia, confirms that Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will be sent home, with heavy sanctions to follow.
Steve Smith had to go. He is the captain, upon whom all responsibility rests in cricket. That paradigm has changed shape, but not so much that this essential truth no longer applies. As details emerge, it appears possible that Smith might have made some sort of misguided attempt to cover the tracks of the ingenuous Bancroft. Sutherland made passing reference to "elements of courage and leadership" in this. None the less, Smith is ultimately answerable. He has no choice now but to take his medicine and his licks.
Steve Smith and David Warner have both been sent home.
Photo: AAP
The odd man out is David Warner. He is not captain, nor did he tamper. He is vice-captain, but in cricket, that is a token position, a side-kick. He was the only other player who knew, investigators have concluded, but merely knowing is not a crime. His indictment lends weight to emerging reports that he instigated the conspiracy, put Bancroft up to his part, swept up Smith, and is now estranged in the team. He was Rasputin.
It is likely that his punishment will be harsher even than Smith's. It is possible that his days are done. Smith, if he throws himself on the mercy of the Australian people, can still come out of this one day with dignity. Warner can't. In the beginning, he was a symbol of what is good about Australian cricket. In this impending end, he is symptomatic of what is rotten in the Australian cricket team.
For now, that is all we know. The noose tightens, but oh so slowly. From our outside vantage, it looks like others have slipped it. One is Lehmann. Even old teammates have their doubts, but he convinced the investigators.
The others are the bowlers. Tapegate was hatched by batsmen, but for deployment by and benefit of the bowlers. Typically, necessarily, ball-tampering is a whole-of-team project. The bowlers identify the side of the ball to be worked on, for instance, and enjoin everyone else to the cause.
It is possible, because this conspiracy was enacted in haste, that it was less orchestrated than usual. That is what the investigators appear to have concluded. And yet it sits uneasily.
Boundary-line cameramen could see its unfolding, but not eight of the 11 on the field? Hmm.
Sutherland said that CA would review the culture of the national team. This is overdue. For too long, it has been a law unto itself. In South Africa, it became an anarchy.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cri...ralia-tightens-the-noose-20180328-p4z6lh.html Smith, Warner and Bancroft sent home, heavy sanctions to follow By Chris Barrett
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.
James Sutherland, the head of Cricket Australia, confirms that Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft will be sent home, with heavy sanctions to follow.
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.
Darren Lehmann, Steve Smith and David Warner at the Cape Town International airport to depart to Johannesburg for the final five day cricket test match.
Photo: AP
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.
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.
In a reflection of the seriousness of the situation the team, which would usually have its main pre-match session two days before a game, will not train on Wednesday.
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.
