The latest shenanigans in the Third Test between South Africa and Australia will give the watching hacks and many others besides plenty to write about for days if not weeks ahead. The usual hyperbolic outpourings of outrage, dismay and not a little cant and hypocrisy will be trotted out in every form of media by the world and its wife. By the end of the week, I expect Theresa May will have been asked for her views. More pertinently, I do wonder what that former ball tamperer Mike Atherton will have to say on the matter. Or Sashin Tendulkhar for that matter?
Not that I hold any brief or retain any sympathy for Australia or for Steve Smith or his Gauleiter, Dave Warner. When there is trouble in and around the Australian cricket team, you can be sure that Dave Warner is not far away. And sure enough when Cameron Bancroft, a victim in this sorry state of affairs, was shamefacedly telling the Umpires that all he had in his pocket was his sun glasses bag, the camera panned to Warner standing there with the makings of an insouciant “nothing to do with me mate” grin across his face.
As Smith would later confirm by reference to his un-named “leadership team”, Warner knew exactly what was going on and you can just imagine Warner pressurising young Bancroft into doing it. It was amusing to note that when asked a direct question by the Press as to who had got him to tamper with the ball, Bancroft declined to rat on his mates – because let’s face it, in Warner World, a rat is a rat and that sort of thing does not go unpunished.
In the previous test, Warner sledged Quinton De Kock to such a degree that the latter was goaded into reminding Dave about a little story concerning his missus. Dave got all arsey and indignant and wanted to give Quinton a bashing because, according to Dave, Quinton had “crossed the line”. To which I say, if you cannot take it, you should not dish it out and if you take things to extremes, you can expect others to do so.
For someone with such a sublime talent, Warner can be such a moron. Maybe it is a case of little big man syndrome or maybe it a matter of “you can take the boy out of Matraville, but you cannot take Matraville out of the boy”.
SW
Sticky Wicket 