Why Steve Smith’s One-Test Ban is Not Enough

Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, has been suspended for one Test match by the International Cricket Council, and will miss his team’s final Test against South Africa. This is fair retribution for his role in the ball-tampering conspiracy that his team engaged in, but it is not enough. Rather, it is a bit of a shame that the ICC decision came so swiftly. After all, it denied the cricket world the chance to know what Smith was made of.

If he is half the man he claims to be, Smith would have, and should have, stepped down from the captaincy until further notice, and obviously played no further part in the ongoing series. Now, we will never know if the man who thought it was perfectly alright to deploy his most vulnerable foot-soldier to do a dirty deed is also a man who is capable or realising the folly of his ways and making amends.

We will now wait, for Cricket Australia to act. Will they muzzle David Warner, the designated alpha-dog of the Australian team, champion sledger and resident agent provocateur, before he does himself and his country serious harm? Will they take a long, hard look at their leadership group — Smith chose not to name the members of this club but it’s common knowledge that Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon and Josh Hazlewood are the men in question — and ask them if this is the kind of leadership they provide? Will they ask Darren Lehmann, the coach and elder statesman, with apologies to all statesmen, to either explain how things came to such a pass or why he should not be sacked?

Dave Richardson, the former South African wicketkeeper who now wears the hat of ICC chief executive, was scathing in his assessment of all parties involved.

Here’s what he said on the chief protagonist: “The decision made by senior players of the Australian team to act in this way is clearly contrary to the spirit of the game, risks causing significant damage to the integrity of the match, the players and the sport itself and is therefore ‘serious’ in nature. As captain, Steve Smith must take full responsibility for the actions of his players and it is appropriate that he be suspended.”

Then came the bigger picture: “The game needs to have a hard look at itself. In recent weeks we have seen incidents of ugly sledging, send-offs, dissent against umpires’ decisions, a walk-off, ball tampering and some ordinary off-field behaviour.”

And, finally, a virtual indictment of the ICC itself and the member boards that make up cricket’s apex governing body: “The ICC needs to do more to prevent poor behavior and better police the spirit of the game, defining more clearly what is expected of players and enforcing the regulations in a consistent fashion. In addition and most importantly Member countries need to show more accountability for their teams’ conduct. Winning is important but not at the expense of the spirit of the game which is intrinsic and precious to the sport of cricket. We have to raise the bar across all areas.”

This is not matchfixing, the game’s greatest bane, but ball-tampering, a significantly less threatening violation. And yet, it is not just about ball tampering. It is about a team’s belief that they can systematically cheat, breaking clearly codified laws, and say later that they made an error of judgment, a one-off incident that should invite nothing more than a slap on the wrist. When a captain of a team, in consort with his senior-most players, believes that the only mistake they made was getting caught, it is time for the world to sit up and take notice.

Cricket may not be a gentleman’s game in 2018, but surely it has not sunk to such a low that this kind of behaviour can be condoned.

The ICC have gone by their rulebook —flawed as it is — and done what they could. But this cannot be the end of it. If Australia’s best cricketers don’t have either the wisdom to realise the depth of their wrong-doing, the seriousness of their betrayal of the unconditional support they get, or the conscience to do the right thing, then Cricket Australia must step in.

While the world is laughing at Australia’s misery, simply because they are masters at dishing it out and poor at copping it, this is no laughing matter. It’s a time for everyone in cricket to look in the mirror, decide if they like what they see and if not, do what needs to be done to change.

Disclaimer: The views expressed here are the author's personal views, and do not necessarily represent the views of Newsclick.