September 08, 2024

Cricket Australia is more concerned about the game of cricket than the ICC. They have banned Steve Smith and David Warner from all forms of cricket (except club cricket) for one year and Cameron Bancroft for nine months. Additionally, they have decreed that Warner will never be considered for the Australian captaincy while Smith will not be considered for one year after the ban. This punishment is in line with the gravity of the offence that has outraged the cricketing world. Nowhere is the public anger more pronounced than in Australia itself. From the Prime Minister to respected columnists to the general public, everyone has taken the disclosures as an affront to the country’s sporting culture. The stringent action taken by CA is a direct result of the public outcry.

The ICC can say that it acted as per the rules, the code of conduct and the penalties prescribed therein. But do not special happenings call for special action? Nowhere in the ICC Code of Conduct is a clause that specifies punishment for a team that cheats. The ICC had never thought that the top management of a team could act in concert to cheat and bring the game into disrepute. But it happened. Since it happened and a punishment was not prescribed for it, the ICC should have thought out of the box and slapped a special punishment for it. New rules, with retrospective effect, could have been made immediately to deal with the situation. Instead, the world body treated it as acts of individuals and slapped the penalty prescribed for individuals. It diluted the gravity of the act. The ICC code needs a complete overhaul now.

One year out of competitive sport is time enough for the best of players to become outdated, especially since the game is developing at a very fast pace. Steve Smith was enjoying a great run as a batsman and could have broken many records. But one is sure that given the ban and the loss of respect among peers, Smith will find it very hard to make a comeback. As for Warner, he is increasingly being seen as the lynchpin of the conspiracy and other players in the Australian dressing room have reportedly said that he is no longer welcome there. So it will be harder for him to play international cricket after this. His career has ended for all practical purposes. It is just punishment for the way Smith and Warner acted.