Now the coach is in trouble.

Any wonder the culture in the team is what it is after reading this from the age newspaper today:

As he strove to be taken seriously on social etiquette, it paid to recall how this was the same Lehmann who, in 2013, had said to a couple of local radio jocks about Stuart Broad: "I hope the Australian public give it to him for the whole summer. I hope he cries and goes home."

And it was the same Lehmann who, when given out against Sri Lanka in 2003, yelled "black c----", drawing a five-match ban for racism, with officials later admitting they had considered throwing him out of the sport for life. But now Lehmann, whose thuggish excesses have long been masked by his coaching success, has gone very quiet.

At the infamous mea culpa by Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith, where the captain disclosed how the ball-tampering had been the brainchild of the "leadership group", he was nowhere to be seen.

Clearly there are going to be heads rolling and we have seen the the first of a few but will it stop or go right to the top?

Matt Renshaw will be flying to Johannesburg after the Shield Final tonight, in a possible replacement move for Cameron Bancroft, hmm wonder who the other opener will be since I doubt Warner will be playing?

Kind Regards

It's by no means definite that there will even be a Fourth Test.

Hopefully this will be the time that the Cricket Australia hierarchy recognise that they finally need to show a little backbone and support their players better, because they always end up with bigger problems every time they refuse. This incident would never have occurred if they had withdrawn the team after the first two matches were hosted in a manner entirely outside the spirit of the game.

They were nasty to us so we cheated?

Media reports from South Africa suggest that they started to follow the handling of the ball after suspicions in the first two tests. If true, that suggests something far different to an isolated incident.

Ban them all for life. Show a bit of backbone and restore some dignity to a game that is meant to be a hallmark of good conduct and sportsmanship.

Craig W

I don't often agree with Craig W but on this one he is right, ban all those involved in it for life and show the world that Australia does not tolerate cheats even their own. If money is all they can think about it is no longer a sport and if they want money then they should go out and get a proper job, as brickies labourer or something.

Cheats never prosper though.

Of course there will be a 4th test. The show must go on.

IMHO, Renshaw in for Warner, Handscomb in for Smith, victim Bancroft should still play.

Given the opportunity I would love to directly ask Lehmann what does he think his great mate Hookesy would think of him now?

Renshaw, Maxwell and Burns all heading over to South Africa.

Press Conference over night saw James Sutherland state that Smith, Warner and Bancroft all been reported through Cricket Australia for their Code of Conduct.

How this doesn't go through the entire team is beyond me. The bowlers would have to have known the ball was in a different state. As a bowler, you are constantly looking at the ball.

Get rid of the whole team and send over the Queensland Bulls after their shield final win.

https://wwos.nine.com.au/2018/03/28/02/11/cricket-australia-ceo-sutherland-media-steve-smith-david-warner-darren-lehmann-cheating

Get rid of the whole team and send over the Queensland Bulls after their shield final win.

https://wwos.nine.com.au/2018/03/28/02/11/cricket-australia-ceo-sutherland-media-steve-smith-david-warner-darren-lehmann-cheating

Queenslanders?   Nooooooo  !!!!!

IMHO, Renshaw in for Warner, Handscomb in for Smith, victim Bancroft should still play.

Bancroft is not a victim. He is guilty of ball tampering which he knew to be illegal. In Common Law, and the Laws of Cricket, you are responsible for your own actions.

Interesting to note that CA (Sutherland & Co) says that only Smith, Warner and Bancroft knew about it. Smith had no hesitation about throwing Starc and Hazelwood under the bus by saying that they were party to it, and he'd better be careful not to meet those two bowlers somewhere on a dark night. If I'd been impugned like that, I'd feel very much like giving Smith a thick ear.
It demonstrates that he has a lot to learn about leadership, and he can go and learn it anywhere he likes except Australian cricket.

Just a different perspective, in terms of mind games and sledging. Game set and match, South Africa.

And the fallout rightly continues

Three cheers for LG. I hope others follow suit.

Edit: Sanitarium has given Smith the flick.

How this doesn't go through the entire team is beyond me. The bowlers would have to have known the ball was in a different state. As a bowler, you are constantly looking at the ball.

The ball was not actually in a different state, the umpires inspected it and decided that it was not altered. This is why there was no five run penalty and offer of replacement balls to the batsmen, that doesn't apply when the offence is only attempted ball tampering.

The big problem is not the actual attempted act, but the intent.

Just a different perspective, in terms of mind games and sledging. Game set and match, South Africa.

Completely. They have always been way ahead of Australia in that area, CSA is run by Afrikaaners who are the most ruthlessly calculated misanthropes you will ever meet.

Cricket Australia aren't responsible for the Afrikaaners that run CSA, but they do deserve to take the blame for not taking more decisive actions at a number of points throughout the series which could have limited further escalation or at least contained the impact of it.

They should have appealed Warner's Level 2 charge in the first Test, but they didn't.

They should have put the team on the bus after Rabada's assault on Smith did not result in him being sent off the field immediately, but they didn't.

They should have abandoned the series when Smith was not permitted to give evidence for Rabada's appeal or at least when the suspension was overturned, but they didn't.

They should have forfeited the Third Test result and abandoned the series after the attempted ball tampering incident, but they didn't.

They should have given South Africa an ultimatum to make the final Test a 'clean' match between only players with no demerit points or else the series would be abandoned (not forfeited, abandoned with no result and future bilateral series suspended until South Africa recognise the same), but they didn't. The one thing that would force the Afrikaaners in charge of CSA to comply is a threat to their balance sheet, they need us more than we need them.

Now the only chance to regain the initiative lies in the desperate hope of a player strike.

Is the problem that Cricket Australia has become too large and unwieldy, while the smaller national boards are more agile? India showed the world how gutless CA had become by calling their bluff in the Monkeygate incident, and Sri Lanka has run rings around us in the past too.

CA needs their players to get nicer to solve the public image problem, but it needs to be accompanied by the organisation taking on the responsibility of refusing to keep being treated like doormats and some more muscle behind the scenes. If the players know they will be backed, they can relax a little more on the field knowing that daddy will take care of matters.

Three cheers for LG. I hope others follow suit.

Edit: Sanitarium has given Smith the flick.

And rightly so.

Smith's captaincy now finished.

Warner has been set upon by team mates according to Fairfax.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket/players-turn-on-david-warner-as-ball-tampering-crisis-tears-team-apart-20180327-p4z6ks.html

12, 12 and 9 months ban apparently for Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

The IPL has also banned them.

The ban includes domestic cricket, which effectively extends the Smith and Warner bans to cover the 2019 Ashes and World Cup in all situations other than an emergency call up, as they will not have a chance to gain form in the 2018-19 Sheffield Shield.

Smith and Banned-croft have a further 12 month suspension from being considered for a national team leadership position while Warner has a life ban.

The net effect of this is that these are the heaviest penalties ever handed down to cricketers from any nation. Not the longest suspensions (Salman Butt has the longest non-life ban) but the total effect of the suspension plus financial losses easily surpasses any other player.

Good response from CA, but they still have a lot of work to do.

Hopefully that should be enough to knock it into the whole team that this sort of caper is simply not on, and that wearing that cap is a privilege, not a right.

The 100 hours of community cricket service is an interesting inclusion, and one which could cause a bit of friction.

I volunteer as part of the team running a number of cycling events each year, and I would be offended if we had disgraced riders assigned to us as punishment.

The net effect of this is that these are the heaviest penalties ever handed down to cricketers from any nation. Not the longest suspensions (Salman Butt has the longest non-life ban) but the total effect of the suspension plus financial losses easily surpasses any other player.

Mohammad Amir went to prison.

BTW, does anyone else see the irony that in quite possibly his last innings in any form of organised cricket, Bancroft was run out by Warner?

I loved Shaun Micallef's take on this on Mad as Hell tonight...

Lehmann is staying on as coach, but should have been one of the first to go. He has been a major player in the deterioration of Australian behaviour on the field. It must be improved and I can't see that happening while Boof stays.

I read today Warner is now banned from ever leading Australia.  

Steve Smith may very well have captained his last game for Australia.

How this doesn't go through the entire team is beyond me. The bowlers would have to have known the ball was in a different state. As a bowler, you are constantly looking at the ball.

The ball was not actually in a different state, the umpires inspected it and decided that it was not altered. This is why there was no five run penalty and offer of replacement balls to the batsmen, that doesn't apply when the offence is only attempted ball tampering.

The big problem is not the actual attempted act, but the intent.

You obviously think this is an isolated event. I think it's been going on all series actually, my opinion. When the ball is reverse swinging in the 30th over on a green pitch, come on, you have to be asking questions. I still maintain the whole team has to go, fresh faces and rebuild. Lets see how good Starc and Hazlewood bowl now going forward.