Shame on Steve smith

[AndyinLiverpool]

31 minutes ago, Albert said:

There's scrutiny, then there's scraping the bottle of the barrel for controversies like this one. 

I do find it interesting that Smith and co get this 'scrutiny', but other convicted ball tamperers don't, even ones who were repeat offenders like Faf. In some ways, people seem to prefer it when people just pretend they did nothing wrong and don't apologise. 

I'm not sure who's scraping the bottom of the barrel. The 'antics' of the former and present captain suggest that it's not the critics doing this, it's the players and their apologists.

[MuespachRam]

1 hour ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

Cricket Australia does have a bit of a problem here. The whole narrative of Paine's captaincy has been one of a new broom, turning over a new leaf, no return to the bad old days, more class etc.

Day 5 of the last test shows that their team will still try anything to win, even if it's distasteful and lacking in class. Failing to win with dignity is not an option.

Even cricket Australia must be getting to the point where they say, 'some things will never change'.

Totally correct, the absolute lack of any class at all is amazing. 

Paine seems like a horrible horrible person but cricket Australia nailed their colours to the mast by not dumping Smith in the first place so they wont drop Paine either I guess. 

Classless.

[GB SPORTS]

7 hours ago, Hathersage Ram said:

It must be becoming very concerning for Cricket Australia all the constant indiscretions of their test players. The Smith incident and Paine's complete lack of class and utter arrogance and contempt for umpires and Ashwin.  The problems seem to be systemic in the set up over there and it's about time the ICC stood up and started issuing bans and substantial fines on players and the international cricket associations they represent! Those that really think Smith was not actually removing the batting marks for guard intentionally are frankly delusional, and even if that was the case (which it wasn't) Smith should still be reprimanded. Ignorance is no excuse at that level. Frankly I am becoming so frustrated with these incidents as cricket has always been my first and favourite passion and these guys are demeaning the sport I love.

Exactly, the ICC need to show some balls,. Smith has continually pushed the boundaries( no pun intended)of fair play throughout his career.

In this last case he should have being nowhere near the crease at that point in time.

[Albert]

9 hours ago, AndyinLiverpool said:

I'm not sure who's scraping the bottom of the barrel. The 'antics' of the former and present captain suggest that it's not the critics doing this, it's the players and their apologists.

To talk about a player doing nothing illegal, and something he generally does, which was not able to gain an advantage of any kind, did not impact the opponent, and was watched by the opponent, the umpires, etc with nobody taking offence, as though it's some high crime... yeah, that's scaping the barrel mate.

1 hour ago, SIXTEEN AGAIN said:

Exactly, the ICC need to show some balls,. Smith has continually pushed the boundaries( no pun intended)of fair play throughout his career.

In this last case he should have being nowhere near the crease at that point in time.

It's astonishing how scared people are of Smith. He's already served the longest ever ban for ball tampering, on the first offence, and you're suggesting his career should have ended over it? Surely you're of rescinding England's win in 2005 then if you're this against ball tampering? 

[GB SPORTS]

2 hours ago, Albert said:

To talk about a player doing nothing illegal, and something he generally does, which was not able to gain an advantage of any kind, did not impact the opponent, and was watched by the opponent, the umpires, etc with nobody taking offence, as though it's some high crime... yeah, that's scaping the barrel mate.

It's astonishing how scared people are of Smith. He's already served the longest ever ban for ball tampering, on the first offence, and you're suggesting his career should have ended over it? Surely you're of rescinding England's win in 2005 then if you're this against ball tampering? 

You really don't understand the argument do you. 

[Albert]

2 hours ago, SIXTEEN AGAIN said:

You really don't understand the argument do you. 

What do you think I don't understand about it? 

[GB SPORTS]

34 minutes ago, Albert said:

What do you think I don't understand about it? 

You can't see that what Smith did was at best gamesmanship at worst downright cheating and for what it's worth I agree with you re Trescothick should have had a ban after his admissions and as should have Atherton after his misdemeanours. The problem is what is acceptable in Oz is far from acceptable elsewhere. The crying shame in all this is the effect it will have on Smith's legacy He will be remembered as a master rule breaker not as he should be as one of the most prolific batsman there has ever been. 

[Albert]

5 hours ago, SIXTEEN AGAIN said:

You can't see that what Smith did was at best gamesmanship at worst downright cheating and for what it's worth I agree with you re Trescothick should have had a ban after his admissions and as should have Atherton after his misdemeanours. The problem is what is acceptable in Oz is far from acceptable elsewhere. The crying shame in all this is the effect it will have on Smith's legacy He will be remembered as a master rule breaker not as he should be as one of the most prolific batsman there has ever been. 

So it seems you're the one who doesn't get the point. There's no reason to think that Smith was doing anything for 'gamesmanship' at all, it's just a thing he does. It was during a drinks break, the groundsmen had already swept and repainted, and Pant would later retake guard. He literally did it in front of the opposition players with the umpire watching him, and it's something he does several times a day, and there was never an advantage to be gained in marking centre. 

The only difference is a feed happened to be showing that cam somewhere, and people, not knowing Smith, commented, leading to the peanut gallery getting involved. 

Equally, it's unusual that Smith gets so tarred by one incident. Guess if you need to tar someone, making a mountain out of this kind of molehill is all you've got. 

[Hathersage Ram]

1 hour ago, Albert said:

So it seems you're the one who doesn't get the point. There's no reason to think that Smith was doing anything for 'gamesmanship' at all, it's just a thing he does. It was during a drinks break, the groundsmen had already swept and repainted, and Pant would later retake guard. He literally did it in front of the opposition players with the umpire watching him, and it's something he does several times a day, and there was never an advantage to be gained in marking centre. 

The only difference is a feed happened to be showing that cam somewhere, and people, not knowing Smith, commented, leading to the peanut gallery getting involved. 

Equally, it's unusual that Smith gets so tarred by one incident. Guess if you need to tar someone, making a mountain out of this kind of molehill is all you've got. 

I think you are miles off in your assessment! Common sporting etiquette dictates that you don't scuff up the batting crease when your are not even batting. All this nonsense about "this is what Smith does" is just that nonsense!  Taking a very simplistic view, assuming you don't think he did it deliberately he should be warned by the umpire for unsporting conduct! Especially with his record. Don't you think in his shoes a normal decent person would go out of his way not to give any ammunition to his doubters!

[Albert]

45 minutes ago, Hathersage Ram said:

I think you are miles off in your assessment! Common sporting etiquette dictates that you don't scuff up the batting crease when your are not even batting. All this nonsense about "this is what Smith does" is just that nonsense!  Taking a very simplistic view, assuming you don't think he did it deliberately he should be warned by the umpire for unsporting conduct! Especially with his record. Don't you think in his shoes a normal decent person would go out of his way not to give any ammunition to his doubters!

 A simplistic view would be dismissing the views of Pant, Smith's teammates, the match officials, CA, the BCCI, the ICC, etc. 

Don't you find it weird that nobody actually involved in the match had an issue with Smith behaviour now, or any of the other myriad of times that he's done it over his career? Really, it's just a beatup. 

[Hathersage Ram]

11 minutes ago, Albert said:

 A simplistic view would be dismissing the views of Pant, Smith's teammates, the match officials, CA, the BCCI, the ICC, etc. 

Don't you find it weird that nobody actually involved in the match had an issue with Smith behaviour now, or any of the other myriad of times that he's done it over his career? Really, it's just a beatup. 

You have you're interpretation and standards and I have mine 

[Comrade 86]

19 minutes ago, Albert said:

 A simplistic view would be dismissing the views of Pant, Smith's teammates, the match officials, CA, the BCCI, the ICC, etc. 

Don't you find it weird that nobody actually involved in the match had an issue with Smith behaviour now, or any of the other myriad of times that he's done it over his career? Really, it's just a beatup. 

The point is he should not even be on the wicket and even less so the crease unless he's batting on it, let alone scuffing it up with his boots. I'm not convinced he's trying to cheat, far from it, but you don't see other players being allowed to do this so why should it be OK for Smith?

Allied to Tim Payne's behaviour, it all confirms a long and widely held view that the Ozzy Test team think they are bigger than the game. It is the complete opposite of how most other sports teams from Australia play, those instead playing hard but fair, but then shaking your hand and sharing a beer when all is done. This lot just come across as nasty pieces of work to be honest, which is a great shame given how talented some of them are.

[Hathersage Ram]

17 minutes ago, Albert said:

 A simplistic view would be dismissing the views of Pant, Smith's teammates, the match officials, CA, the BCCI, the ICC, etc. 

Don't you find it weird that nobody actually involved in the match had an issue with Smith behaviour now, or any of the other myriad of times that he's done it over his career? Really, it's just a beatup. 

And you are also missing lots of international crickets inc Australian ones who have openly criticised Smith for his actions - It just defies logic what he did- especially with his track record! And surprise surprise his teammates not criticising him lol, come on be real!!

[Albert]

5 minutes ago, Hathersage Ram said:

You have you're interpretation and standards and I have mine 

"Standards". 

Again, you can have your 'standards', but by the same 'standards' argument people could go about calling Broad and Anderson cheats over things like the stepping on the ball scandal. Or when Broad didn't walk after middling it. Personally, I wouldn't say such, but that's basically the kind of silliness you're advocating for. 

[Albert]

1 minute ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

The point is he should not even be on the wicket and even less so the crease unless he's batting on it, let alone scuffing it up with his boots. I'm not convinced he's trying to cheat, far from it, but you don't see other players being allowed to do this so why should it be OK for Smith?

Time to arrest some bowlers! Who do they think they are, going near the crease!

You also do see other players going near the crease during drinks breaks, looking at the pitch, etc. Again, Smith does this literally all the time without anyone batting an eye, the difference here is the feed was left with the stump cams for some reason, and keyboard warriors who aren't used to seeing such got a bit spooked. 

1 minute ago, 86 Hair Islands said:

Allied to Tim Payne's behaviour, it all confirms a long and widely held view that the Ozzy Test team think they are bigger than the game. It is the complete opposite of how most other sports teams from Australia play, those instead playing hard but fair, but then shaking your hand and sharing a beer when all is done. This lot just come across as nasty pieces of work to be honest, which is a great shame given how talented some of them are.

It's weird from Paine as he's tried to project that 'hard but fair' attitude as the defining feature of his captaincy. He just lost the plot this last test, and the mask well and truly slipped. Pretty pathetic from him. 

[Comrade 86]

2 minutes ago, Albert said:

Time to arrest some bowlers! Who do they think they are, going near the crease!

Bit facetious mate so I'll stop reading there and leave you to it.

[Hathersage Ram]

3 minutes ago, Albert said:

Time to arrest some bowlers! Who do they think they are, going near the crease!

You also do see other players going near the crease during drinks breaks, looking at the pitch, etc. Again, Smith does this literally all the time without anyone batting an eye, the difference here is the feed was left with the stump cams for some reason, and keyboard warriors who aren't used to seeing such got a bit spooked. 

It's weird from Paine as he's tried to project that 'hard but fair' attitude as the defining feature of his captaincy. He just lost the plot this last test, and the mask well and truly slipped. Pretty pathetic from him. 

Again you are wrong, bowlers are trying to get solid footholds to minimise massive traumas in their knees and ankles and not interfering with batting guards etc. Again you are speaking as a unilateral knowledge when you say "keyboard warriors who aren't used to seeing such got a bit spooked - laughable! I have no issue with players standing in the crease visualising batting, but that bears no resemblance to what Smith was doing roughing up the pitch - come on just act sensible!

[Albert]

13 minutes ago, Hathersage Ram said:

Again you are wrong, bowlers are trying to get solid footholds to minimise massive traumas in their knees and ankles and not interfering with batting guards etc. Again you are speaking as a unilateral knowledge when you say "keyboard warriors who aren't used to seeing such got a bit spooked - laughable! I have no issue with players standing in the crease visualising batting, but that bears no resemblance to what Smith was doing roughing up the pitch - come on just act sensible!

Smith shadow batted left handed, marked centre, and left... during a drinks break, immediately following the groundsmen doing their work on the crease. Mate, acting sensible isn't talking about something a guy does every match as though it's a problem. 

[Hathersage Ram]

51 minutes ago, Albert said:

Smith shadow batted left handed, marked centre, and left... during a drinks break, immediately following the groundsmen doing their work on the crease. Mate, acting sensible isn't talking about something a guy does every match as though it's a problem. 

I think you should have gone to Specsavers

[Wolfie20]

2 hours ago, Albert said:

Smith shadow batted left handed, marked centre, and left... during a drinks break, immediately following the groundsmen doing their work on the crease. Mate, acting sensible isn't talking about something a guy does every match as though it's a problem. 

You realise you're on a sticky wicket so playing a straight bat is probably the best option.