In the latest independent report on ball-tampering scandal finds that Cricket Australia’s (CA) ‘arrogant’ and ‘controlling’ culture forced the Australian players to cheat for securing the victory.
Sydney-based Ethics Centre has done the independent review where they find that CA’s attitude was the larger responsible for players’ movement towards the cheating and other unsportsmanlike conducts.
The report released on Monday that claimed, “Responsibility for that larger picture lies with CA and not just the players held directly responsible for the appalling incident at Newlands.”
In this March, during the Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia, the Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft was caught in on-field cameras to trying to alter the ball condition by using yellow sandpaper. Later, it was revealed that the vice-captain David Warner was the mastermind of this action while the skipper Steven Smith was also aware of this incident.
Also read: Sutherland claims missing the ball-tampering scandal was “serious WTF moment”
After the investigation, CA suspended Smith and Warner for one-year each and Bancroft for nine months. Moreover, Warner will never be a captain while Smith and Bancroft will have to wait one more year after completion of their suspension to lead a side.
Soon after that ball-tampering incident, head coach Darren Lehmann stepped down from his role while James Sutherland finished his 17-year long journey as Cricket Australia (CA) chief. On the other hand, CA’s High-Performance manager Pat Howard has recently decided to end his journey with CA after the completion of Ashes 2019 in England.
After the seven months of the ball-tampering incident, the latest independent review slammed CA by stating, “The broad consensus amongst stakeholders is that CA does not consistently ‘live’ its values and principles. CA is perceived to say one thing and do another. The most common description of CA is as ‘arrogant’ and ‘controlling’.”
After this 145-page report has been published, The Australian Cricketers’ Association has requested CA to reconsider the penalties on Smith, Warner and Bancroft. However, CA is still intact with their punishment decisions on those three national cricketers.
In the response of this latest report, CA chairman David Peever said that the review gives the important lessons to them.
Peever said, “It has been a difficult and confronting time for everyone involved in Australian cricket, and for that I am sorry. Mistakes have been made, lessons have been learnt, and changes are and will continue to take place.”
