The ball tampering saga

[think positive]

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Scott Grant to be named as Cricket Australia chief operating officer

Former Hyundai executive.

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 50txa.html

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Steve Smith's Vodafone ad that's been running for months:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GkC46v_0nb0


I think this is grossly inappropriate. Vodafone should be ashamed. Smith is rather foolish, whatever his intentions in this case. (That was not his only foolish action. The interviews he and Bancroft gave were also ill-judged.)

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Bancroft defends interview...

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 50zth.html

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Just days before his ban expired, Bancroft was interviewed by Australian great Adam Gilchrist, their chat airing on Fox Cricket on Boxing Day during the Test against India.

He was criticised for this interview, with Ricky Ponting and Jones among those to question why it was done and aired during the showpiece event of the Australian summer.
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"At the end of the day, my ban finished on December 28, it was actually in the middle of the game, so I find it hard to understand a little bit because I was going to need to speak at some point," Bancroft told ABC radio.

"The other thing that I was really passionate about was, I didn't just want to talk just for the sake of talking because the game, life in general ... there are messages far greater than just yourself to portray.

"I felt like I had some really important learning that I wanted to share with people, which was why I wrote my letter [to himself, published in The West Australian] and which was why I did an interview with 'Gilly'. I felt like there were some really powerful lessons that I have learnt through my journey that I wanted to share. If other people were triggered by that, I guess that is their battle to face but if I was able to touch people through some parts of my journey to help them work through their lives, that was my sole intention. I was proud of myself for that."
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"I have spoken to Dave. All of us, including Dave, we have all been really challenged through this period of time. I know that all three of us have stuck by each other, looked after each other well," he said.

"You can't understand the trauma that I felt, it was probably very different to the trauma he [Warner] felt. I can't possibly understand that. I guess moving forward it will be great lessons for all of us, including Dave, too. I guess that is something we have all shared with each other and something I have certainly shared with David throughout this entire journey."
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[Comment: No. No! No!! (Is there any emoji for thumping your fist on the table? Maybe a gif?) Some of his statements sound close to delusional. e.g. "If other people were triggered by that, I guess that is their battle to face..." Huh?? Does he mean that Ricky Ponting was "triggered" and that is Ricky's "battle to face"?? The kid seems to be drowning in New Age mumbo jumbo. He would do better listening to people like Ponting.]

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What Smith, Warner reintegration really means

http://www.espncricinfo.com/story/_/id/ ... ally-means

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Reports that the Australian ODI squad was given the opportunity to ask Warner and Smith any questions they may have had recalled the awkwardness of Wayne Phillips, Graeme Wood and Murray Bennett fronting fellow members of Allan Border's 1985 Ashes squad after they had changed their minds regarding participation in that year's South African rebel tour. But whatever was said in that enclosed environment will be less important than how Warner and Smith play out their actions over ensuing weeks, months and years.

There were some unsettling moments during the bans that suggested Smith in particular was not quite clear on where he now stood. The timing of a press conference and Fox Cricket interview to coincide with the launching of an overwrought phone commercial was clumsy at best and a major distraction for the Test team at worst, while the pronouncements of his manager about Smith's plan to play in the World Cup, disregarding his own uncertain fitness and decidedly underwhelming returns in his previous 10 ODIs, sounded something like entitlement.
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Another instance from the recent past that also bears thinking about is the seamless way in which George Bailey slipped from stand-in captain to drinks waiter during the 2015 World Cup once Clarke was fit enough to resume. Bailey has recalled, with much mirth, that in celebrations of that win he inadvertently broke the trophy. Team-mates who saw how he served the team either as leader or a reserve were happy to accept the momentary lapse given the extent of his selflessness beforehand. Beyond the Dubai platitudes, Warner and Smith must aim for similar standing.

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Documentary: Crossing The Line [55:53]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKcvHAec6GM

Warning: this is a S. African production, though it's hosted by Mark Nicholas and has talking heads from both countries. Brace yourself for sanctimonious codswallop.

Ball tampering comes around the 23min mark onwards. (Before that is the Rabada farce.)

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Bancroft named as new Durham captain

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 516g0.html

(This follows Paul Collingwood's retirement.)

[ Some of the self-congratulatory psychobabble Bancroft has spouted is just amazing. (“You have no idea how amazing you are as a person,” he is reported as saying of himself! Yes, amazing, but not in a good way.) Is that what you want in a captain? And it looks like he basically tried to throw Warner under the bus and play the innocent victim. Is that what you want in a captain? Who would have thought that, of the three, Warner would behave the most appropriately in the last five months. Maybe he had no choice, because he was hated so much, while the other two and their advisors thought they could play media games.]

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Unhappy anniversary, time to start again

https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 5168f.html

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David Warner retreated the other way, into his young family, seeking anchorage and balance. To everyone's surprise, he has been outwardly stoic, not saying boo to media or even when crassly sledged in a grade game. He has been, if you like, the model prisoner. From accounts, he has dealt better than Smith with their time in Coventry.
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Occasionally, friction surfaced, between Warner and third wheel Cameron Bancroft, then between Smith and Warner. "I didn't want to know," Smith said in a rambling press briefing in January, devolving all blame on Warner, but doing himself no favours, either. Contrast that with then vice-captain Rod Marsh's gesture of non-compliance as Greg Chappell ordered up the under-arm in 1981. Smith's netside interview was one of two public appearances at the height of summer - the other was on Fox - that made Cricket Australia wince.
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Evidently, though, there has been a catharsis and strengthening. Justin Langer's intensely earnest public talk sometimes sounds naff, but in the receptive confines of a pro sports team, it works. Now re-integration is at hand. It is being carefully, even delicately managed, mostly over the hill and far away, with a Harvard expert on hand to advise. In truth, you suspect it is being melodramatised, made into some kind of threshold, a frontier. Notionally, Smith and Warner met to reconcile with the Australian team in Dubai, but more than half are intimates from NSW who have been with them in the nets and on the rub-down tables every week. They've had plenty of time and privacy to deal with the bruises.

It is improbable that Smith and Warner would do other than walk on eggshells now. It is in all their best interests now to put the past behind them. Warner is a loose cannon, but a shrewd one. As for Smith, the word is that his injured wrist has given him a cause, a project, a focus for his itchy energy. Soon, he will don his batting blinkers again, but you can expect his eyes to be more open. The captaincy and its multitudinous demands always sat a little askew on his shoulders anyway, like a wonky backpack. If he can live with the indignity of losing it, he might yet thrive again without it.
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Durham raised eyebrows - both in English and Australian cricket circles - when they announced on Friday that Bancroft would captain the club in 2019.
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"He's a fantastic bloke. He's obviously a really good leader in his own right and I'm sure he'll do a really good job over there," Marsh said in Sharjah.

"He's a really good guy with a really good cricket brain.

"He'll demand a lot of hard work ... he'll tackle it with both hands, that's what 'Bangers' is about."
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https://www.theage.com.au/sport/cricket ... 5170q.html

[Donny]

Seems crazy.

What must other Durham captaincy contenders be feeling.

Anyone know if 'Bangers' has any leadership history ?

[Pies4shaw]

Warner 84 of 51 in his first IPL game. Out Anybody They Want, In Warner.