Australian cricket is as we all know is quite uncompromising. The players, be it the young ones or the international players, play the game extremely aggressively. From what have heard about, abusing fellow players in not that uncommon. Infact, this happens in every sport and every walk of life around the world. Australian cricket probably have taken it to a higher level. The Australian society is known to be tough and it is not a place for the weak hearted. However, the recent actions on the part of Tim Paine & Steve Smith is rather childish and deserve severe condemnation. Infact Tim Paine and Smith have lost lot of respect among the cricketing fans.
Let me begin with Tim Paine
Tim Paine took over the Australian captaincy at a time of great turmoil in Australian cricket. He was made the de-facto captain after the Newlands ball tampering controversy. At the time of Paine ascending onto the Australian captaincy, he spoke a great deal about changing the player’s on-field behaviour. He wanted to bring in a cultural shift. He wanted to earn the respect and trust of cricket followers. Especially, the Australian public.
“I’m really looking forward to playing that role and winning back the trust and respect of our fans and the Australian public first and foremost. That’s a really exciting thing for our playing group.
Justin Langer had this to say
“Sandpaper-gate said our culture had to change. But one thing is for sure. It will only take one piece of bad behaviour for people to say, ‘There you go, that’s the Australian cricket team. Their culture is still s**t’. – Justin Langer, January 2020
These are infact tall claims. Langer & Paine were supposed to be the beacons of change. They were supposed to ride Australian cricket out of the mess that they found themselves and attempt at a complete makeover. It was clear that Paine was chosen as the captain only because he was thought of as someone who was a nice fellow eventhough his credentials are an international player was moderate at best. However, everything fell off at the Sydney Cricket Ground on 11th January 2021.
Paine was convinced that the Australian players behaviour improved after the Newlands scandal
“I think that’s a good thing, I think that’s what we want, I think it then allows us to have things like the stump mics turned up and we’re able to take fans and spectators even closer to the game. Hopefully that behavioural trend can continue. I think it’s just been a change in mindset. I think those combative players still play the way they play, they’ve had to think a little bit more about how they go about it or what they actually say.
The primary accused
However, everything seems to have come down crashing. Tim Paine being the captain of the Australian which was supposed to have turned a new page was the primary culprit. He abused Ashwin during a period that Ashwin refused to take strike unless Paine stops.
I can’t wait to get you to the Gabba, Ash, I’ll tell you what, woohoo,” ahead of an over of spinner Nathan Lyon.
To this Ashwin replied, “Just like we want to get you to India. That will be your last series.”
“Maybe. Are you a selector here as well?” Paine replied, adding, “At least my teammates like me, d**khead. I’ve got a lot more Indian friends than you do. “Even your teammates think you’re a goose. Don’t they? Every one of them.”
The Australians usually use the term “not crossing the line”. To them, they have never crossed the line except when they were blatantly caught scuffing the ball. Hence, to maintain status quo, Michael Hussey too felt that it was banter and Paine did not cross the line. If calling an opposition player dickhead is not crossing the line, Hussey will do well to prepare a dictionary with Aussie slangs that describes which ones cross the line. Tim Paine who wanted to change the culture has proved that he is no different from any of the other Australian players and that any talk of Australians wanting to change will only be hogwash.
Once a cheat is always a cheat
Steven Smith, probably one of the greatest batsmen this game has ever seen has once again proved that he is a cheater. During the Sydney test, he was caught removing Pant’s guard and creating an alternate guard for Pant with the aim of misleading the batsman who would have given his wicket away because he was standing on a wrong guard. Paine as was expected defended Smith
“Steve’s quite upset about it,” Paine said of the reaction. “I know he’s really disappointed with the way it’s come across.
“If you’ve watched Steve Smith play Test cricket, that’s something he does every single game. Five or six times a day…. I have seen Steve do it many times in Test matches.
“There’s no way in the world he was trying to change Rishabh Pant’s guard or anything like that.
The point is, Smith having completed batting in both the innings had no business on the batting crease. As the video clearly shows, he did create an alternate guard to confuse Pant. So Paine saying that Smith wasn’t trying change Pant’s guard was utter nonsense. Smith is naturally upset about it because he was caught. He did that during the drinks break when he didn’t expect anyone to be watching him.
This is not the first time Smith cheated on the field of play. Everyone is aware of the now infamous Newlands ball tampering saga. Smith alongwith Warner were the main culprits in planning the entire incident despite the fact he as the captain was expected to set higher standards.
Smith’s one more cheating episode
The lesser popular event of Smith’s cheating was against India in Bangalore. Smith was given out to a LBW appeal when Australia were chasing a modest total to win when Smith instead of opting to review or accept the decision turned towards the dressing room for advise to take the review. An alert Indian team and the umpires spotted this deception and rightly asked Smith to walk away.
Mark Taylor’s support
It really is a shame that Mark Taylor chose to support Smith. Infact, he has confessed that he himself has done the samething previously. This is a shame. I never expected Taylor of all the persons to have cheated. This clearly shows that cheating is part of the Australian cricket team. The sooner the players realise this the better it is for people perception about Australia.
Conclusion
Smith is a repeated offender and despite his achievements as a batsman, cannot be held in high esteem as a cricketer. It is time ICC takes note of this repeated offender and bans him for a longer period.