The 10 words that proved Steve Smith’s failure as captain
The toxic culture of the Australian cricket team that culminated in the ball-tampering scandal has been fully laid bare by former cricket players, coaches, executives and commentators.
In a new documentary Caught Out, which aired on ABC on Monday night, several cricketing experts and insiders claim our national team’s “win-at-all costs” culture has been intensifying for years and would ultimately lead to the poor decision-making that has seen captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and player Cameron Bancroft suspended for 12 months.
However, one question has still puzzled fans since the scandal was exposed – why did they risk it?
After Warner’s infamous staircase fracas with Quinton de Kock in Durban in early March, sparked by disparaging comments about Warner’s wife Candice, “a siege mentality seemed to have overtaken the side”, says cricket commentator Jim Maxwell.
Smith publicly backed Warner after the incident as the team prepared for the second Test against South Africa.
“Davey plays well when he’s aggressive and he gets into a contest,” Smith said.
“He has to be careful not to cross the line. Sometimes you can go over the line and that’s not what we want to see.
“I can’t promise it’s not going to happen again in the future.
“But we’ll be doing our best to ensure our behaviour’s in a good place.”
They were words that would come back to haunt Smith as footage of the interview was replayed all over the world as the ball tampering scandal unfolded.
“A lack of maturity of the leadership and the narrowness of their approach to the game, particularly in dealing with their emotions, made sure there would be an error of judgment, that unfortunately, came to pass,” Maxwell observed.
But it was what Smith said when he learnt of the ball tampering plan that would truly damn his captaincy.
The plan to ball tamper was devised during the lunch break of day three.
“Warner was trying to pass on responsibility to look after the cricket ball to the younger player [Bancroft]. Almost press ganging him into doing what he needed to do to the ball,” Maxwell said.
“And Steve Smith overheard what was going on and says ‘what are you blokes up to? I don’t want to know’. And that’s when he should have jumped in and been more vigilante.”
According to BBC cricket commentator Alison Mitchell, “David Warner’s a stronger personality than Steve Smith, and Steve Smith may be not able to question things maybe that David Warner was saying”.
The critics claim that although Smith is arguably the best batsman in the world, he lacked the maturity and leadership ability needed of a captain, and was often overpowered by his vice captain.
But according to union representatives, there’s one place everyone should be looking at when it comes to why the cricket team risked it all.
Australian Cricketers’ Association president Greg Dyer said “culture comes from the top ... it doesn’t come from the bottom”.