The late Richie Benaud, who was considered the doyen of cricket commentary, once called cricket the most controversial game of all. Over the years, cricket has been involved in a lot of controversies like gambling, match-fixing, spot-fixing, sledging, disrespect towards umpires, dalliances of a non-platonic nature, verbal tirades and even the odd physical skirmish. Ball-tampering can also be added to this list but for some reason over the years it failed to be considered a serious offence. There have been a lot of players caught red-handed, tampering with the ball over the years but for some reason the offence does not seem to warrant the seriousness that it deserves. Here is a list of players caught tampering with the ball over the years.
Michael Atherton- England vs South Africa at Lords in 1994
Sachin Tendulkar-India vs South Africa at Port Elizabeth in 2001
Inzamam- ul-Haq- Pakistan vs England at the Oval in 2006
Faf Du Plessis- South Africa vs Pakistan at Dubai in 2013
Faf Du Plessis- South Africa vs Australia at Hobart in 2016
Vernon Philander– South Africa vs Sri Lanka at Galle in 2014.
The penalties on those occasions were just slaps on the wrist and ranged from merely fining players a proportion of their match fees or in Du Plessis’ case in 2016, his entire match fees. In Tendulkar’s case the Match Referee, Mike Denness fined him 75% of his match fees and a one Test ban to be suspended for a year. In Pakistan’s case against England, they refused to take the field and therefore ended up conceding the Test. The punishment handed out to the players was inadequate and not severe enough to act as a deterrent.
In July 2017, Cricket Australia (CA) and it’s players were involved in a major dispute where the players threatened to go on strike if their demands for an increased share in revenue were not met. Cricket Australia eventually caved in to the demands of the players but its CEO, James Sutherland said that the relationships within the game had been tested and that it had been a turn-off for fans. Steve Smith and David Warner, being the captain and vice-captain were main figures in the dispute.
Before we delve into detail into ‘Sandpapergate’ as it is infamously dubbed, we need a bit of background about cricket in Australia. The late former cricket author and journalist, Peter Roebuck had this to say about the Australian captaincy” Cricket is the national game and it has been a unifying force. This is a colossal country. Perth is a farther away from Sydney than Moscow is from London. So, cricketers have mattered. The Australian captain matters much more in Australia than the English captain matters in England. He is one of the major national figures in a country that can’t point towards Shakespeare or Dickens.”
One of Australia’s finest captains, Mark Taylor who led the side between 1994 and 1998 concurred with the view and said that the job has an importance that goes beyond cricket. “In my time I got rung up about who I would support at the next general election. I got put up on the front pages of the newspapers about the next Republican debate, even though I made no comment. But it was expected that I would have a view.”
In the past Australia have given a priority to winning cricket matches over any punishments for the indiscretions committed by their cricketers. In Sri Lanka in 1994, Shane Warne and Mark Waugh took money from a bookmaker called John. John gave Warne USD 5000 and in return sought information about team selection and pitch and weather conditions. Once the Australian Cricket Board as it was then called in, came to know of the incident in early 1995, they merely fined Warne- Australian Dollars 8000 and Mark Waugh -Australian Dollars 10000, which was almost the exact amount the players received from the bookmaker. The reason they merely fined the players instead of banning them was that Australia had an impending tour of the Caribbean and banning the duo would severely compromise Australia’s chances of victory. Just prior to the 2003 cricket World Cup in South Africa, Warne was found guilty of failing a drug test. According to the guidelines laid down by the World Anti-Doping Agency Warne ought to have received a two-year ban. Once again, the Australian Cricket Board handed him a mere one-year ban fearing that a two-year ban would force him into retirement. Without indulging in an Aussie bashing exercise, it would not be unfair to say that Australia tended to be lenient in punishing its players for their indiscretions, rather than administering just punishments.
The ball-tampering fiasco now called ‘Sandpapergate”, involved 3 Australian players, Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith. Australia were in a weak position against South Africa in the 3rd Test at Capetown and were desperate to turn the tide. After lunch on 24th March 2018 ,which was the 3rd day of the Test, Bancroft was shown on television coverage and on screens at the ground, appearing to rub the ball with a small yellow object. After he realised that he had been seen, Bancroft was again seen on televisions and on the screens, hiding the object at the front of his trousers. When Bancroft was approached by the umpires, he showed them a dark sunglass pouch from his pocket. The umpires inspected the ball and did not feel that its condition had been altered. Therefore, they did not offer it to the South African team to be replaced, or award the South African team 5 penalty runs, which they were entitled to do so under Laws 41.3, of the Laws of Cricket if they felt that the ball had been tampered with.
At the press conference, at the end of the 3rd day’s play, Bancroft admitted that he was attempting to alter the condition of the ball using a short length of yellow adhesive tape to which dirt and grit had adhered, forming an abrasive surface. Smith admitted that he knew of the plan in advance and said that the plan was formulated during the lunch break. Smith said that he had committed a big mistake and that he would not be standing down as captain. 5 days later, after an investigation by Cricket Australia, it was found that the yellow substance was sandpaper, which cricketers use to maintain their bats.
Andy Pycroft, the match referee charged Bancroft with a Level 2 offence of attempting to alter the condition of the ball. He was handed 3 demerit points and fined 75% of his match fee. The CEO of the ICC, Dave Richardson charged Smith ‘with conduct of a serious nature that is contrary to the spirit of the game.’ Smith was handed 4 demerit points and was fined 100 % of his match fees. Smith was also sanctioned with 2 suspension points which equated to a ban for the next Test. Both players accepted their sanctions.
In a press release, dated 25th March 2018, James Sutherland apologized to fans and said that both Smith and Warner had agreed to step down from their roles as captain and vice-captain respectively for the rest of the match. Cricket Australia, Board Chairman said that Tim Paine had been asked to take over the captaincy for the remainder of the match. On 27th March 2018, Sutherland announced that Smith, Warner and Bancroft had been charged with bringing the game into disrepute and would be suspended and sent home. During a meeting on 28th March 2018, the 3 players were sanctioned by Cricket Australia of breaching Article 2.3.5 of the Board’s Code of Conduct, by engaging in conduct contrary to the spirit of the game, unbecoming of a representative, harmful to the interests of the game and/or which brings the game into disrepute.
Warner was found to be guilty of conceiving the plan and instructing Bancroft on how to do it. Smith was found guilty of knowing about the plan and doing nothing to prevent it. Bancroft was found guilty of tampering with the ball, trying to conceal the evidence and attempting to mislead match officials and the public. Bancroft was banned for 9 months from all international and domestic cricket and banned from a leadership role until a minimum of 12 months after the conclusion of his suspension. Smith was suspended from playing international and domestic cricket for a year and banned from a leadership role for at least 12 months after the conclusion of his suspension. Warner received the same suspension as Smith and was banned from any leadership role with the national team till the end of his cricketing career. All 3 players were encouraged to play club cricket and maintain links with the cricket community. In addition, they would have to undertake 100 hours of voluntary service in community cricket.
So, why did Cricket Australia make an exception in this case and come down heavily on the 3 players? Some cynics felt that they wanted to get back at the players for the payment dispute a few months ago. Others felt that since the players were caught red-handed, the Board needed to take a firm stand in order to appease the fans and sponsors. In the past, Australian cricketers were known to have indulged in sledging, boorish behavior and ruthless gamesmanship on the field and this led to a huge international outcry against them. As mentioned earlier, the Australian captain is considered a very important figure in the national scheme of things and therefore CA had to come down hard on the trio to set an example and regain the trust of the fans, sponsors and other stakeholders.
In October 2018, a review of the culture and governance of Cricket Australia was conducted by Simon Longstaff of The Ethics Center. He described Cricket Australia as arrogant and bent on winning at all costs and said that they should bear as much blame as the 3 players involved in the incident. The 147- page report was based on interviews with players, sponsors and other stakeholders. It said that Cricket Australia had failed to live up to its values and principles and a culture of disrespect and bullying ran through its organization. Cricket Australia Chairman, David Peever, felt that some good would come from the 42 recommendations in the review. He conceded that they didn’t put sufficient emphasis on the spirit of the game in their pursuit to becoming to best on the field. He said that they were using the report as an opportunity to do better. Longstaff further added that stakeholders had expressed deep regret over Cricket Australia’s tolerance of poor behavior among elite male cricketers and the organization’s consistent failure to hold players accountable.
On 2nd November 2018, the Australian Cricketers Association (ACA) made a submission to Cricket Australia asking for a face to face hearing to revoke the bans imposed on the 3 players. The ACA argued that CA had an obligation on behalf of the players to re-examine the issue in light of the findings of the Longstaff report which found that the Board had contributed to a desperate culture which prompted the players to seek victory in an illegal manner. However, CA argued that findings of the Longstaff review were just opinions and hadn’t been established as facts. Moreover, it said that even the review did not ask for the players suspensions to be revoked. On 20th November the Board said that the suspensions could not be rescinded and that the players must serve out their bans.
One of the main reasons for the outcry by the ACA against the severity of the bans was that the ICC’s Code of Conduct itself did not permit such a severe punishment. The ICC realised the inadequacy of it’s Code of Conduct rules on ball-tampering and on 29th September 2018 introduced a change which came into effect on 30th September 2018.
The revised rule is as follows” Changing the condition of the ball will now incur a Level 3 offence under the ICC Code of Conduct.” This change was approved in the ICC Board Meeting during the Dublin Annual Conference on 2nd July 2018. “The maximum sanction for a Level 3 offence has been increased from eight suspension points to 12 suspension points which is equivalent to 6 Tests or 12 ODIs.”
Only time will tell if the harsh punishment meted out to the 3 players and the amendment to the ICC Code of Conduct will act as a deterrent to players in the future.
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