CA chairman criticises ex-players over ball-tampering outrage
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... ng-outrage
The ball tampering saga
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 4z8d8.html
Former Australia captain Michael Clarke says he's willing to come out of retirement to help out the Test side ...
Clarke, who retired after losing the Ashes series in England three years ago, said he'd play for free and had messaged Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland but is yet to hear a response.
...
"It's like getting back on a bike. I'm as fit and healthy as I've ever been. The time away has been great for my body.
"To be honest, I'm so nervous about the headline and how it's perceived," he said.
"But I can't just sit here and do nothing. I feel I owe the game too much."
https://twitter.com/MClarke23/status/982772911407742978
"out of control!"
https://twitter.com/MClarke23/status/982772950708371457
"the game owes me nothing, I owe it everything."
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/mi ... 4z8e3.html
J. Pierik: "Michael Clarke's suggestion that he is open to returning to the Test side ... is delusional, ridiculous and ... perhaps sad, for it's clear almost three years on from his messy retirement ... he has yet to find true peace."
"out of control!"
https://twitter.com/MClarke23/status/982772950708371457
"the game owes me nothing, I owe it everything."
https://www.smh.com.au/sport/cricket/mi ... 4z8e3.html
J. Pierik: "Michael Clarke's suggestion that he is open to returning to the Test side ... is delusional, ridiculous and ... perhaps sad, for it's clear almost three years on from his messy retirement ... he has yet to find true peace."
Considering bats, I was also reminded about the Ponting one-handed sweep for 6 in the World Cup final. A quick internet search did not reveal any video. (Cricket video seems to be harder to find than I expected.) In Ponting's case, my memory says it must have been off the middle of the bat. What I'd like to check is when exactly his hand came off the bat. I think it may have been after the impact of bat on ball, which of course would reduce its significance. There was an MLB case, however, in which a no-hand home run was struck: both hands were off the bat at the time of bat-ball impact. The photographic evidence of this may be available online. (There is also an explanation for how such a thing can possibly occur. I can explain if anyone's interested.)K wrote:... it seems this outside-edge 6 [drive] was actually from Short. If there's video footage somewhere...
https://www.cricket.com.au/video/every- ... 2018-02-16
Start around 0:47. If you pause it at just the right spot (some unknown fraction of a second after 0:48 ), ...
Update: It seems it was Todd Frazier.
http://mlb.mlb.com/cutfour/article.jsp? ... d=32446002
It's not exactly easy to see when both hands come off the bat, although the slow-motion replay from a different angle helps. If it's in between frames, then we're out of luck.
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 4z8nu.html
On the other hand, the claim does seem to be self-condemning. It's hard to see how this argument could be claimed if the claimants' own experiences provided counterexamples. Vaughan and Flintoff, in making this argument, are therefore basically admitting that the whole of the England 2005 Ashes team were in on the team's ball tampering, not just a few. (Maybe this was already clear, so there was no point pretending otherwise. I don't know. Trescothick's autobiography is again the place to start looking.)
Note: Flintoff later is quoted as saying, "Some of them are in glass houses: don't be chucking your stones lads. We've done a few things which aren't particularly in the rules - not as bad as that - and it changes."
Flintoff is clearly not a Vaughan. I'd guess that this comment, like Mark Butcher's, was aimed in particular at Vaughan. (Butcher referred to "a former captain of mine".)
It does not seem to be a particularly strong argument (independent of whether the conclusion may be true). There are many questionable assumptions in it.Flintoff says other Australian players 'had to know' about ball tampering
Former England captain Andrew Flintoff claims suggestions Australia's ball-tampering scandal was limited to banned trio Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft are 'nonsense'.
Flintoff said the one-year suspensions handed out by Cricket Australia to former captain Smith and former vice-captain Warner and the nine-month ban for Bancroft as overly-harsh.
...
"I am struggling to think that not everyone (in the team) knew," Flintoff told the BBC.
"I might be completely wrong but you talk about it - you talk about how you're going to treat the ball. The ball in cricket is so important.
"To say that a bowler has got a ball in his hands, or anybody else in the field does not know that this ball has been tampered with is absolute nonsense.
"You talk and talk and talk about how you're going to look after this ball. To then say that other people didn't know; if that's the case I feel sorry for Mitchell Starc."
...
On the other hand, the claim does seem to be self-condemning. It's hard to see how this argument could be claimed if the claimants' own experiences provided counterexamples. Vaughan and Flintoff, in making this argument, are therefore basically admitting that the whole of the England 2005 Ashes team were in on the team's ball tampering, not just a few. (Maybe this was already clear, so there was no point pretending otherwise. I don't know. Trescothick's autobiography is again the place to start looking.)
Note: Flintoff later is quoted as saying, "Some of them are in glass houses: don't be chucking your stones lads. We've done a few things which aren't particularly in the rules - not as bad as that - and it changes."
Flintoff is clearly not a Vaughan. I'd guess that this comment, like Mark Butcher's, was aimed in particular at Vaughan. (Butcher referred to "a former captain of mine".)
Last chance to watch:
'Caught out', Paul Kennedy documentary,
https://iview.abc.net.au/programs/caugh ... 00#playing
Some quotes and notes follow.
John Inverarity, as told by Gideon Haigh, on Smith's appointment:
"There is an argument for making Smith wait... just while he grows up a bit... This office, it drives them all mad."
Kim Hughes: "Don't tell me about pressure... I was becoming a person I didn't like... It's very, very lonely."
Merv Hughes: "There'd be a few people watching this interview that would be saying that if I said that the Australians were over the top I would be hypocritical... and so I'm never going to say the Australians were over the top. They play a good, aggressive, hard brand of cricket, and if other sides don't like it, that's their problem."
Smith failed English in Year 12.
Simon O'Donnell: "That comes about by pressure... That pressure has driven them to a decision that will change a lot of cricketers' careers..."
Peter Schofield: "... I had the same feeling as if ... someone had passed away, I'd lost an old friend..."
Gideon Haigh: "They are sort of man-children, aren't they? ... That's the system that we've created."
Michael Vaughan (on the Australian cricket team): "They are very self-righteous. They have been for a while."
[My comment: Pot. Kettle... This man seems completely delusional.
]
Simon O'Donnell (on Bancroft's actions compared with others'): "That's far different to me..."
[My comment: Simon, that's not what the rules say.]
Lehmann was accused of having two coaching methods: building up players, and excommunicating them.
Greg Dyer: "Culture comes from the top..."
John Buchanan: [waffle, waffle,...]
[My comment: the emperor has no clothes.]
James Sutherland & David Peever declined requests to be interviewed for the program.
'Caught out', Paul Kennedy documentary,
https://iview.abc.net.au/programs/caugh ... 00#playing
Some quotes and notes follow.
John Inverarity, as told by Gideon Haigh, on Smith's appointment:
"There is an argument for making Smith wait... just while he grows up a bit... This office, it drives them all mad."
Kim Hughes: "Don't tell me about pressure... I was becoming a person I didn't like... It's very, very lonely."
Merv Hughes: "There'd be a few people watching this interview that would be saying that if I said that the Australians were over the top I would be hypocritical... and so I'm never going to say the Australians were over the top. They play a good, aggressive, hard brand of cricket, and if other sides don't like it, that's their problem."
Smith failed English in Year 12.
Simon O'Donnell: "That comes about by pressure... That pressure has driven them to a decision that will change a lot of cricketers' careers..."
Peter Schofield: "... I had the same feeling as if ... someone had passed away, I'd lost an old friend..."
Gideon Haigh: "They are sort of man-children, aren't they? ... That's the system that we've created."
Michael Vaughan (on the Australian cricket team): "They are very self-righteous. They have been for a while."
[My comment: Pot. Kettle... This man seems completely delusional.
]Simon O'Donnell (on Bancroft's actions compared with others'): "That's far different to me..."
[My comment: Simon, that's not what the rules say.]
Lehmann was accused of having two coaching methods: building up players, and excommunicating them.
Greg Dyer: "Culture comes from the top..."
John Buchanan: [waffle, waffle,...]
[My comment: the emperor has no clothes.]
James Sutherland & David Peever declined requests to be interviewed for the program.
Surrey coach keen on signing Australia's banned cricket stars
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 4za7v.html
https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 4za7v.html
...
Di Venuto was Australia's batting coach until 2016 and remains close to both Steve Smith and David Warner...
Cameron Bancroft ... had his contract with Somerset ripped up following the incident...
The trio are only permitted to play grade cricket in Australia, but their bans do not prevent them from playing in England, although it would require approval from the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).
...
Alec Stewart:
"I personally think the penalties ... are very, very harsh."
Waqar Younis:
"Ball tampering has always been a part of cricket... It's always been there... I feel that Australian Cricket Board was a little bit harsh. You know, we all look at the bats; we all look at the pitches, the size of the grounds. It's all ... around the batsmen, how we want to comfort the batsmen. How are you going to take this away or make it comfortable for the bowlers? Why aren't we looking at the cricket ball? ... there should be one cricket ball, only one cricket ball used all around the world..."
(video on cricinfo)
"I personally think the penalties ... are very, very harsh."
Waqar Younis:
"Ball tampering has always been a part of cricket... It's always been there... I feel that Australian Cricket Board was a little bit harsh. You know, we all look at the bats; we all look at the pitches, the size of the grounds. It's all ... around the batsmen, how we want to comfort the batsmen. How are you going to take this away or make it comfortable for the bowlers? Why aren't we looking at the cricket ball? ... there should be one cricket ball, only one cricket ball used all around the world..."
(video on cricinfo)
England 'suspected' Australia ball-tampering during Ashes
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... ring-ashes
It seems fairly common for sportsmen to think, "They can do something we cannot do, so they must be cheating." This argument on its own is of course not strong. The nature of the human mind means that when your team has the ascendancy you attribute it to superior skill. In the article, Cook alleges superior pace of the English bowlers in the 2005 Ashes series, this supposedly being the key. In reality, I'm not sure we know with even modest confidence that pace is the main factor in reverse swing (with balls in the same condition).
http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... ring-ashes
Quick comment:Alastair Cook has said that England's cricketers suspected Australia of ball-tampering during their 4-0 Ashes defeat this winter, but admits that the extra pace of Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins could well have been the decisive factor in obtaining the degrees of reverse swing that England's own bowlers failed to replicate.
Cook ... said that England's suspicions had been especially aroused on the final day of the third Test at Perth, when Australia overcame a three-hour rain delay to pick off England's remaining six wickets for an Ashes-sealing victory.
...
"Yeah, a little bit," Cook said, when asked if England had been suspicious. "We did think in Perth, when the outfield was wet after the rain, how had they managed to get the ball reversing? I didn't see anything, [but] we've been pretty good on the ball, managing the ball so that it can reverse swing at certain times. Jimmy [Anderson] is obviously very good at reverse swinging, we got it going a touch at Melbourne either way, but with those drop-in pitches we didn't get it going massively."
However, Cook also admitted that "no one really understands" the mechanics of reverse swing, and conceded that a simpler answer might be that they had been out-performed by better, and faster, bowlers...
...
Cook, who was speaking at an event to celebrate the return of Yorkshire Tea National Cricket Week with cricket charity, Chance to Shine, was put on the spot during an assembly with local primary-school children when one of them asked him his opinion of "Australia's cheating" during the recent Cape Town Test. In an improvised response, he likened the act to diving in football, in that there are rules in place, but players will still push the boundaries of what is acceptable.
"It's not for me to comment on the punishments," he told the media afterwards. "I just think it was a real reminder, watching the whole thing, of what people want to watch in sport. It was the same as cycling, and the match-fixing in one sense, when people buy tickets to watch sport, they want to see, no matter who is playing, it's done in a fair way.
...
It seems fairly common for sportsmen to think, "They can do something we cannot do, so they must be cheating." This argument on its own is of course not strong. The nature of the human mind means that when your team has the ascendancy you attribute it to superior skill. In the article, Cook alleges superior pace of the English bowlers in the 2005 Ashes series, this supposedly being the key. In reality, I'm not sure we know with even modest confidence that pace is the main factor in reverse swing (with balls in the same condition).