Cricket Australia and Cricket South Africa are at loggerheads following the cancellation of the Australian tour to South Africa. It is only fair to say that South Africa had lot of hopes pinned on this tour. They would have been able to cover some of the costs. With international cricket limited because of the pandemic, sporting boards around the world are scrambling to minimise the loss. This is the reason West Indies and Pakistan toured England, India toured Australia and England are currently touring India. Additionally, there were few other tours as well. Just when everyone thought that atleast cricket will go on, Australia have refused to travel to South Africa. Now, Graeme Smith is not thrilled and has not minced any words while criticising the Australian board. Also, Kohli is facing one test ban. Let me analyse Graeme Smith’s accusation against Australian board and Kohli’s suspension.
Smith’s strong statement
Cricket SA’s Director of Cricket, Graeme Smith has termed the relations between both the boards to be strained. This is such a serious statement at the international level. He has called upon the ICC to take a leadership role.
“The game needs leadership and to understand the complexities (around the pandemic). I don’t think world cricket wants three nations competing against each other in ten years time. How does that benefit the game? It doesn’t. That will amplify the (T20) leagues, and leagues will get bigger and bigger. And the rest of the member nations will have little to no content. The leadership at the ICC need to address this.”
It is certain the Smith has not taken kindly to the decision of the Australian board. Reports have since then emerged that South Africa have escalated the matter to the ICC’s dispute resolution council and will demand adequate compensation from the Australian board. This is unprecedented. All the boards have always managed to reschedule a scheduled series and none of the board have ever gone to the ICC for conflict resolution and certainly none of the board have ever demanded to be compensated. This is the first time and it remains to be seen whether ICC will be courageous enough to take a decision against Australia.
My personal opinion on Australia’s decision
Having said that, I do think that Australia must have toured South Africa. Yes, the world is in the middle of a pandemic but that has not stopped other teams from touring. Australia themselves travelled to England just for a limited overs series when the pandemic in The UK was at its worst. South African board certainly had arranged for an entire resort for the Australians comfort and they had given all possible assurances that any board would have given in these circumstances. When most of the teams are travelling to various countries, I do not see any reason for Australia not to travel.
Kohli likely to be banned for one test
Kohli as we all know is among the worst behaved player on the field. He abuses the opponents and the umpires even when not provoked. Now reports have emerged that after his recent altercation with an umpire during the 2nd test against England, Kohli is likely to receive 4 demerit points which means one match suspension.
Article 2.8 in the ICC’s Code of Conduct covers “dissent at an Umpire’s decision”, and includes “arguing or entering into a prolonged discussion with the Umpire about his/her decision”.
Article 2.8 states, “It shall not be a defence to any charge brought under this Article to show that the umpire might have, or in fact did, get any decision wrong.”
However, the decision rests with Javagal Srinath. Will he have the courage to ban a player like Kohli who is such a massive figure? With the next test sold out, Kohli’s absence will be felt. Will the board influence Srinath not to impose the ban? We will have to wait. I however feel that Kohli must certainly pay for his poor behaviour. He has brought the game into disrepute so often that it is really a wonder he hasn’t been banned even for a single game yet.
Conclusion
An example must be made out of the big fish so that others will fall in line. The game needs to be cleared of all kinds of poor behaviour on the field of play.
What do you think of Smith’s accusation as well as Kohli’s likely ban? Please comment below.