Australia in an embarrassing spin

After years of moving through the corridors of the world of cricket as the tough, powerful, arrogant, and many-times champions of the world, Australia are suddenly in an embarrassing spin.

Australia stand accused of ball tampering, the embarrassing sin of premeditation, labelled as cheats during the third Test in Cape Town, and bringing the game into disrepute.

Just over a week ago, with his team in trouble against South Africa, Australia's opening batsman, Cameron Bancroft, was caught on camera stuffing sandpaper into the front of his trousers.

And later on, Steve Smith, the erstwhile likable captain of Australia, admitted to a lunchtime plan on the third day of the Test by "senior" players to tamper with the ball in order to gain an unfair advantage, and as such, the incident was considered not only against the spirit of the game, but also premeditated.

Smith apologised and was slapped with a one-match ban by the ICC, which, incidentally, is the maximum sentence for such an offence, and Cameron was handed three demerit points.

In Australia, however, the incident attracted nationwide condemnation from Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, who described the incident as "utterly disgraceful" and an "embarrassment to the people of Australia", and members of government to Cricket Australia, former captains of Australia, and to the man in the street who expressed disappointment and embarrassment over the behaviour of the national team.

Australia followed the ICC with measures of their own and banned Smith and Davis Warner for 12 months each from international and domestic cricket, Smith from captaincy starting 12 months after the playing ban; Warner banned from captaincy for life; and Bancroft banned from playing for nine months and from captaincy for 12 months after the playing ban expires.

Warner was punished for hatching the plan, encouraging Bancroft to carry it out, and misleading the match referee; Bancroft for carrying it out and for trying to conceal it; and Smith, the captain, for knowing about the plan and for not stopping it. The trio was sent home.

Smith and Warner were later removed by the Indian Premier League, and coach Darren Lehman tendered his resignation.

Regardless of what happens from here on in, Australia's cricket will never be the same, and as great as they are, or could be, as players, neither will the careers, or the memories, of Smith, Warner, who seems to be the target of most of the disappointment in Australia, and Bancroft, at least for a long, long time.

The culture of cricket in Australia has been seriously damaged, and that by heroes of Australia who have let down the people of Australia. It has left Australians very, very angry.

That is why the reaction of Australia has been so severe, why Australia have done some cleansing, and why they have all condemned the players for what, according to the ICC's penalties, is a minor offence.

It is important to note, however, that the Australian punishment was not for the offence of ball tampering or for bringing the game into disrepute.

It was, according to Cricket Australia's CEO James Sutherland, for attempting to conceal the incident, and by doing so, for damaging the image of Australian cricket and for "denigrating the game".

It is obvious that incidents like the "sending off" of batsmen and the bumping into opposing players have become, or are becoming, the norm.

The behaviour of Australia's Warner and South Africa's Kagiso Rabada recently is fresh in the mind, and this Australian shame is a reminder of the need to protect this beautiful game.

The ICC must now move to stamp this sort of behaviour out of the game before it becomes uncontrollable and a real embarrassment, not only to Australian cricket, but to cricket overall.

And the threat of erosion is so great that the fight to stop the indiscipline, or the "ungentlemanly" conduct, must start at all levels of the game.

Recently, in the local Senior Cup competition, the behaviour of young Jamari Harris of the St Catherine Cricket Association and the experienced Devon Thomas of the St Thomas Cricket Association, a former Leeward Islands, West Indies, and Jamaica Scorpions representative, was embarrassing when they objected to being ruled out.

These are incidents that must be investigated and dealt with quickly. After all, cricket is, or should be, a gentleman's game.

DISAPPOINTING WINDIES

Another disappointing performance was that of the West Indies at the World Cup qualifiers in Zimbabwe, where the West Indies qualified for the Cup but lost the final of the qualifiers.

Some may argue that nothing lasts forever, that although the West Indies were great once upon a time, they are not great now, that they went to Zimbabwe to qualify for the World Cup, and they did just that.

That argument is valid, except for the many five-year plans that the West Indies have put in place over the past 25 years, or so; except for the many coaches that the West Indies have had in that time; except for the many players that the West Indies have tried; and except for the many times that the West Indies have "turned the corner".

There is also the point that the West Indies, after falling away some 25 years ago, have not made any significant strides since, while Afghanistan, in Division Five ten years ago, have done wonders since.

The West Indies did qualify, but only just. They qualified after defeating the United Arab Emirates, Papua New Guinea, Ireland, and the Netherlands, losing to Afghanistan and narrowly beating Zimbabwe and Scotland.

Had the West Indies not qualified, there would now be much, much disappointment and long faces around the Caribbean.

Some may say also that the loss to Afghanistan in the final does not matter and that it was only a useless and meaningless final.

The harsh reality, however, is that it is now five victories for Afghanistan over the Windies, once in the World T20, once in a 50-over match in the Caribbean, once in a warm-up match for the qualifiers, once in the Super Six, and again in the final by seven wickets, with almost 56 deliveries overs to spare.

Unlike the huffing and puffing between India and Australia recently, South Africa and Australia, however, it was all smiles between the Afghanistan players and the Windies players, particularly for the Afghans, and especially after they had defeated one of the hallowed teams in cricket and after Mohammad Shahzad's match-winning innings of 84.

It was even more smiles after Mohammad Nabi slammed three successive sixes to win the match, and after the West Indian Phil Simmons, who, after being unceremoniously fired by the West Indies, coached Afghanistan to victory over the Windies, who were coached by a combination of Australians and Englishmen.