3rd Test: South Africa v Australia at Newlands, Capetown, March 22-26, 2018

[stryker]

LOL - yeah, just a quick look:

Khawaja averages 59.38 in Aust, 24.88 away. Smith 77.25 in Aust and 53.5 away, Warner 59.64 in Aust and 36.75 away... Smith is still amazing, but the disaparity is telling, and Khawaja becomes a plod, and Warner becomes very average

Imagine how good some players records would look if they got to play half their tests on those highways, and didn't have to face the Australian attacks...

Kinda like those over rated Indians huh?

 

[Mr Spock!]

36 years on, and Greg Chappell is still tarnished because of underarm. Before that the only commentary on Greg was his outstanding batting. Now his career ends up with a question mark on it.

I listened to Greg on Fox the other day. His relationship with someone he greatly admired in Richie Benaud changed greatly as a result of it.

Yes but the fans forgive and forget.

We want to see Australia win after all.

These gimps saying they'd be ok watching the Aussies play zimbabwean level obviously never watched the 80s.

 

[stryker]

I was angry yesterday, now im more sad about it. Steve Smith has done so much for his country on the sporting field to the point that when he fails with the bat we generally lose badly. He is a hero to cricket fans the world over as he is a bloke who overcame his substantial technical deficiencies to become the best bat in the world through amazing grit and thousands of hours of tough, hard work.

To see him nonchanantly talk about this issue in that presser, as if an appology would suffice made me furious. I then thought about it more and i have to say, his naievity is saddening. He actually did think it would suffice and he must be destroyed now it has dawned on him how the rest of the world reacted, especialy at home, to it. This bloke had it all and whilst he explained what happened it never occured to him that millions who were watching on tv were all united in thinking "you are done mate. Its all over". His life has changed for the worse. I hope he gets help to accept this as the fact he is a massive cricket nerd who has damaged the thing he loves would be very hard to come to terms with.

He is a once in a generation cricketer who has made a disgraceful error of judgement that has affected a lot of people. That is his self inflicted cross to bare for many years to come. Its gonna be tough...

 

[Eelectrica]

Smith knows how this bloke feels
is he insured?
Rule book, what rule book? Or perhaps consequences, what consequences?

 

[Mr Spock!]

I was angry yesterday, now im more sad about it. Steve Smith has done so much for his country on the sporting field to the point that when he fails with the bat we generally lose badly. He is a hero to cricket fans the world over as he is a bloke who overcame his substantial technical deficiencies to become the best bat in the world through amazing grit and thousands of hours of tough, hard work.

To see him nonchanantly talk about this issue in that presser, as if an appology would suffice made me furious. I then thought about it more and i have to say, his naievity is saddening. He actually did think it would suffice and he must be destroyed now it has dawned on him how the rest of the world reacted, especialy at home, to it. This bloke had it all and whilst he explained what happened it never occured to him that millions who were watching on tv were all united in thinking "you are done mate. Its all over". His life has changed for the worse. I hope he gets help to accept this as the fact he is a massive cricket nerd who has damaged the thing he loves would be very hard to come to terms with.

He is a once in a generation cricketer who has made a disgraceful error of judgement that has affected a lot of people. That is his self inflicted cross to bare for many years to come. Its gonna be tough...

The nonchalance of the press conference reflects the overall nonchalance associated with ball tampering....

I wonder who advised him to spill the beans....that was a pretty dumb decision as well.

 

[69-05-41]

Caught cheating on Saturday and lost 10 for 50 on Sunday. When does the match fixing investigation begin and what was with all the tape on Warner's hand in the second test?

 

[Fangs]

Legit question - where's Lehman?

Has baldy lost his voice? You'd think the coach might have something to say on a matter like this.

99% certain he knew about it.

Smith says the coaches had nothing to do with it apparently. So the board and Lehmann are probably trying to figure out how to best deal with it.

Implicating the leadership group and not the coaches has put them in a tight spot.

 

[The Vaulting Violinist]

The coach didn’t know?

Yeh right, pull the other one

 

[billygilmore]

The nonchalance of the press conference reflects the overall nonchalance associated with ball tampering....

I wonder who advised him to spill the beans....that was a pretty dumb decision as well.

Agree with you here, I admit I got caught up in the overreacting about this yesterday, reality is ball tampering is kind of like diving is to soccer I guess, frowned upon and not in the spirit of the game but if you can get away with it..well just don’t get caught.

Was watching a clip earlier and I think it was Umar Gul picking at the seam and disguising it rather well, commentators are laughing and saying good job

 

[Tommy Smith]

The nonchalance of the press conference reflects the overall nonchalance associated with ball tampering....

I wonder who advised him to spill the beans....that was a pretty dumb decision as well.

It was a smart decision.

The evidence was there for all to see.

The truth would have come out so lying would have been doubling down and made it worse.

 

[T-Boon]

So is everyone over it yet or is this outrage session going to go hard core for 3 days rather than the standard 2 before going limp?

 

[Tommy Smith]

I'm also going to stand up for Steve Smith here.

I mean holy f**k this is the biggest witch hunt since Lindy Chamberlain.

Steve Smith's fault is that he's a very poor leader of men.

He strikes me as a deer in the headlights type when under pressure.

There is no excuse for what he did. For coming up with the elaborate plot. For putting a junior team member in the firing line. For being dumb enough to use yellow tape that stands out like dogs bollocks. Or especially for palming off the explaining in the press conference to Bancroft.

And yet...

Perspective, people. Perspective.

Anyone would think he tampered with a child's balls, not a cricket ball.

Somehwere George Pell is saying to himself, "oh well could be worse, at least I'm not Steve Smith."

Bad leader? Yes. A few shocking errors in judgement? Yes. But it doesn't make him a bad bloke. I'm pretty sure we've all made mistakes.

If Matt Lodge can be given another crack after attacking some human beings then I'm sure we can give Smith another crack for attacking a cricket ball with tape.

It shouldn't even be the headline of his career. Greg Chappell is still remembered first, second and thirdly as a great batsman. The underarm incident comes in at 4th.

The same can and should apply to Smith because, again, let's take a step back and gain some perspective.

Dingo ate my baby!!!

 

[T-Boon]

He actually did think it would suffice and he must be destroyed now it has dawned on him how the rest of the world reacted, especialy at home, to it.

He just needs it explained to him how utterly geniused society has become in the last 5 years with social media/media cycle judge-mania going on. We are addicted to flipping out. We live for it. The talking faces might keep this story going for an extra day or two because it is cricket but something newer will come up real soon and then we will flip right back out.

 

[billygilmore]

How about Manlys slap on the wrist for salary cap breach hey ?

Firing squad or the hangman’s noose ?

 

[Mr Spock!]

So is everyone over it yet or is this outrage session going to go hard core for 3 days rather than the standard 2 before going limp?

Nope...they won't be happy until the Australian team is utterly gutted and we're reduced to losing to Zimbabwe.

 

[Mr Spock!]

I'm also going to stand up for Steve Smith here.

I mean holy f**k this is the biggest witch hunt since Lindy Chamberlain.

Steve Smith's fault is that he's a very poor leader of men.

He strikes me as a deer in the headlights type when under pressure.

There is no excuse for what he did. For coming up with the elaborate plot. For putting a junior team member in the firing line. For being dumb enough to use yellow tape that stands out like dogs bollocks. Or especially for palming off the explaining in the press conference to Bancroft.

And yet...

Perspective, people. Perspective.

Anyone would think he tampered with a child's balls, not a cricket ball.

Somehwere George Pell is saying to himself, "oh well could be worse, at least I'm not Steve Smith."

Bad leader? Yes. A few shocking errors in judgement? Yes. But it doesn't make him a bad bloke. I'm pretty sure we've all made mistakes.

If Matt Lodge can be given another crack after attacking some human beings then I'm sure we can give Smith another crack for attacking a cricket ball with tape.

It shouldn't even be the headline of his career. Greg Chappell is still remembered first, second and thirdly as a great batsman. The underarm incident comes in at 4th.

The same can and should apply to Smith because, again, let's take a step back and gain some perspective.

Dingo ate my baby!!!

Yep, exactly this........

 

[Mr Spock!]

He just needs it explained to him how utterly geniused society has become in the last 5 years with social media/media cycle judge-mania going on. We are addicted to flipping out. We live for it. The talking faces might keep this story going for an extra day or two because it is cricket but something newer will come up real soon and then we will flip right back out.

The same ones will then be moaning about having a shit captain while losing the next 5 series to blot.

 

[Eelectrica]

How about Manlys slap on the wrist for salary cap breach hey ?

Firing squad or the hangman’s noose ?

It's Manly, can we go with both... in a gas chamber.

 

[Cherry_poppins]

It's Manly, can we go with both... in a gas chamber.

54-0 still hurts does it bud?

 

[JJ]

I'm also going to stand up for Steve Smith here.

I mean holy f**k this is the biggest witch hunt since Lindy Chamberlain.

Steve Smith's fault is that he's a very poor leader of men.

He strikes me as a deer in the headlights type when under pressure.

There is no excuse for what he did. For coming up with the elaborate plot. For putting a junior team member in the firing line. For being dumb enough to use yellow tape that stands out like dogs bollocks. Or especially for palming off the explaining in the press conference to Bancroft.

And yet...

Perspective, people. Perspective.

Anyone would think he tampered with a child's balls, not a cricket ball.

Somehwere George Pell is saying to himself, "oh well could be worse, at least I'm not Steve Smith."

Bad leader? Yes. A few shocking errors in judgement? Yes. But it doesn't make him a bad bloke. I'm pretty sure we've all made mistakes.

If Matt Lodge can be given another crack after attacking some human beings then I'm sure we can give Smith another crack for attacking a cricket ball with tape.

It shouldn't even be the headline of his career. Greg Chappell is still remembered first, second and thirdly as a great batsman. The underarm incident comes in at 4th.

The same can and should apply to Smith because, again, let's take a step back and gain some perspective.

Dingo ate my baby!!!

Lovely heart warming stuff, Tommy - but your team is playing in NZ, you're needed in another thread