Australia’s leading players have come across as unlikeable and foolish. But the level of public outrage and the possibility of year-long bans for those involved are totally disproportionate, writes Ed Kemp.
Al Capone, responsible for a vast criminal underworld, including dozens of murders, was finally jailed for tax evasion. While it made sense for the US authorities to get the interwar mobster behind bars by whatever means the legal system allowed, taking the same approach to Australia’s cricketers in the wake of the ball-tampering affair will be damaging and short-sighted for the game as a whole.
For the huge reaction and the potential punishments being bandied around have little to do with ball-tampering and a great deal to do with an accumulated distaste for the Australian team’s approach to the game: an aggressive, win-at-all-costs mentality admixed with self-righteousness and arrogance.
But blimey, if every sportsman with that combination of traits was sacked for a year, the TV companies who funnel so much money in their direction would have some pretty empty schedules to fill.
As an England fan – one hurt by Lehmann’s Australia many times over – I want nothing more than to throw my head back and cackle at the crude hypocrisy, in a warm bath of schadenfreude as the Aussies’ fouls come home to roost. And to be fair, I’ve had my moments. But the overreaction is now taking all the fun out of it.
Just as public opinion – which demanded a player of Kagiso Rabada’s quality be kept on the field, regardless of his repeated disciplinary breaches – seemed to sway the outcome of that ICC decision, so it threatens to here. And however much we might feel we dislike Smith and Warner – both of whom, by the way, would be sorely missed by a Test game that, yes, needs its best taking part as often as possible – we cannot for too long enjoy them being strung up and flogged just to satisfy the bloodthirsty mob mentality given strength by social media. That, more than anything, would not be cricket.
