Sorry – I didn’t mean to imply you were saying that. And I think shining the ball on one side is fine.

I think Warner’s character was doubly exposed when he got back to Australia and emerged from customs with his wife, and each of them carrying one of their young daughters. Of course the press couldn’t ask him hard questions in that situation. It was his human shield. Then he put out a written statement to say he would respond in a few days, obviously when he had worked out what to say. And when he did front up, what he was crying about was not what he’d done wrong, but the effect he’d had on his family. It’s good that at least he realizes how much his actions have hurt them, but I’m not sure he really sees he’s done anything wrong. I can accept the apologies and remorse of the others, but he’s got a bit of work to do in my eyes. As you say, you’ve got to be a real a$$hole to upset some of the people that Warner gets a rise out of. He clearly goes well beyond normal sledging.

I did not mean to imply it is ok, just that it is nothing new.
There is also a kind of sliding scale: shining the ball rubbing it on your leg or groin is completely accepted, I think spitting on the ball is too, although not when you’ve been eating a mint (????), working the ball over with sand paper is on the other extreme of the spectrum, of course.
Warner must be a difficult character, it is not easy to pick a fight with Quinton de Cock, reputedly one of the more quiet and equanimous players.

Yeah, I’d like more info too. There are other accounts that post manuscript pics that always include a reference, and perhaps I should focus on those ones.

They had to be seen to come down hard and not condone the action, and I suspect anything less would have been seen as taking it easy on them. They might have got away with less if it wasn’t for the involvement of Warner, who has already made himself and the team look pretty bad.

Besides, ball tampering is wrong. It’s cheating. I think the ICC needs to toughen up it’s punishments for it, though not to what these Aussies have suffered.

Imo, all those saying “everyone does it,” which seems to be the mantra from some sections of the cricketing world, is like saying “everyone in cycling takes drugs.” That doesn’t make it okay, and it’s not true that everyone does it anyway. Several NZ and English players are pretty pissed off by those making those statements because it impugns the reputations of all bowlers and they want to make it clear that they don’t do it.

On the other hand, I find the punishments by CA a bit harsh. After all, ball tampering to varying degrees is as old as the game.

IIRC, a president cannot start a war all by himself, doesn’t he need approval of House and Senate? I know there are ways around that (Tonkin incident), but still.

Yes, I guess the Australian team had it coming sooner or later, but I would have thought it would have been about their sledging, which was hardly ‘gentleman-like’. However, this blatant ball-tampering is really kind of sordid. Must admit I did not expect that from them. Sad.

Their attitude always made them hateable (auto correct wants to change that non-word to “have a blessed!”). I never even feel able to enjoy their skills because I feel such antipathy towards them. With most other teams in most other sports I can appreciate, enjoy, and even cheer skillful play, even if it means NZ losing.

The head of Aussie cricket is apologising to Aussies, especially the kids. That’s good, but the issues should have been addressed years ago. A lot of top sports teams have entitlement issues and it’s something all in management need to be aware of imo. It’s not just an Aussie cricket problem to be fair.