Now that the sordid tale of ball-tampering has led to Messrs Smith, Warner, and Bancroft being banned, it's also worth looking back at a few things.
The punishment: Apt or too harsh? Or too less?
What has really led to the quantum of punishment?
It is not the perpetrators alone but the fact that the world is pooh-poohing at Aussie claims of "playing hard but fair" with the more accurate Lehmann-guided approach to just "headbutt the line".
The whole episode has led to the Australian cricketing establishment losing all its sheen and moral high ground, if ever they could have claimed to have one.
So while the swiftness and zero-tolerance displayed by Cricket Australia in handling this fiasco is appreciated, what we are also witnessing is a damage-control exercise now.
The damage has already been done.
It would have been bettee to invest in creating a team like their neighboring Kiwis are - a true embodiment of giving their best on the field, being aggressive in their pursuit of victory, but not at the cost of gentlemanliness and sportsmanspirit.
The damage has been to the spirit and ethics of the game.
Which is why, it is no coincidence that the Aussies have always been the bad boys of cricket.
Sure, they are not the only team to cross the line and there are characters in every team but it is the consistency and encouragement and almost advocacy and patronization of such an approach from every team and their management (headbutt the line, mental disintegration, play hard but fair, it's just Australian to do so) which makes the team stand out in its brazenness consistently, in any and every era.
Pick any generation of cricketers, any team of any era, and you would find as Peter Roebuck had once described, "a pack of wild dogs" around, always.
Time to do away with such an attitude more than such players. If the cricketing establishment can, instead of encouraging, be strict and punitive in its implementation of playing the game and just the game fair and square, we woukd not have see any such players and attitudes prospering.
You think sledging, and you think of the Australian cricket team.
You think rowdyism, and you think of the Australian cricket team.
The country needs a makeover, and not just a cosmetic one, only for display purposes.
The cricketing world needs the game to rule, not brash, bullying talking heads.
Forget adopting unethical means, the world would see a team that is civilized and gentlemanly and likeable too.
Aah, to think of such a team in baggy green caps is a dream as of today.
And that is why, one hopes to see this come to life, atleast after the lessons and damages from this ball-tampering saga.
One hopes Australia can do it. We'd like to see them to do so.
After all, it is a shame to be so consistently talented as they are, but be the diametrical opposite of that talent when it comes to behavior, manners, and conduct.
Let that not happen anymore, guys...c'mon Australia, you can do it.
You must do it!!
