The International Cricket Thread 2018

[UK Redsox]

Smith admitted knowing about the plan and said it was discussed by ‘the leadership group’.

He’s thrown a load of players under the bus with that statement.

I can’t see how Smith can remain as captain

[Jon Crofts]

Smith admitted knowing about the plan and said it was discussed by ‘the leadership group’.

He’s thrown a load of players under the bus with that statement.

I can’t see how Smith can remain as captain

I can’t see how they can remain as professional cricketers.

[manic-road]

It will be interesting to see what the governing body do about the cheating and admittance of it. Looks like the Aussies are backing Smith to stay as captain at the moment.

[Damo70]

Smith admitted knowing about the plan and said it was discussed by ‘the leadership group’.

He’s thrown a load of players under the bus with that statement.

I can’t see how Smith can remain as captain

I can’t see how they can remain as professional cricketers.

I agree. The England team must be lapping it up. There is nothing better than being in the shit and then someone else messing up big time and taking the focus and the heat off you.

[aj2k77]

Not smirking and looking so smug now are they the pair of cheating pricks.

[tomd2103]

From what I have seen of him at the Bears I have to say I am a bit surprised to see De Grandhomme playing for NZ in the test side.

[OzVilla]

Cook gone to a dreadful ball and even worse shot.

[OzVilla]

As you can imagine, this ball tampering is a massive story here. In fairness no one is holding back, Fox Sports has rolling coverage and both ex-players and cricket writers are lining up to denounce the actions, players and culture of their side, there is palpable outrage.

Australia as a nation is less than 120 years old, the Australian Cricket team stands for way more to your average Australian than the England team means to the average Englishmen, it's almost the embodiment of the nation.

To be caught wilfully cheating and to find out that it was pre-meditated, discussed and then agreed upon is staggering. Clearly Bancroft has accepted and confessed to the role as cheat mule but you can also expect Smith, Warner and Lehmann to all lose their jobs over this. I'd also say Lyon, Hazelwood and Starc are in the shit too as thats the 'leadership group'.

Interesting that Smith said in his press conference about it being a 'leadership group' decision and then wanting to take "take control of the ship" and that even if they'd not been caught he'd have felt ''Incredibly bad about it''. My hunch is that he's a Captain under huge pressure who has been coerced into taking a stupid course of action by his lieutenants which will now live with him for years.

[Villan For Life]

As a cricket fan it’s sad to see this sort of thing happen.

What surprises me is that the Aussie attack is one of the better ones in test cricket, they trouble most batsmen. So they don’t need to alter the condition of the ball to gain an advantage. The desire to win at all costs places all players under great pressure and this is the result.

Ball tampering has gone on for years and we’ve had players caught doing it. It’s just this time the Aussies got caught.

[Chris Jameson]

They were really unlucky to be caught doing it the first time they tried it, maybe it was and they’ve never cheated until Bancroft came into the side.

[PaulWinch again]

Smith will definitely go as captain because his position is untenable.

On England vs NZ, what has happened since the 58 all out has made that innings look even worse. It's also worrying again that we were unable to take 10 wickets.

[Jon Crofts]

Smith will definitely go as captain because his position is untenable.

On England vs NZ, what has happened since the 58 all out has made that innings look even worse. It's also worrying again that we were unable to take 10 wickets.

Smith has already said he won’t consider stepping down and that he needs to steady the ship.  Well mate, your ship has sunk and you’re responsible for it’s sinking. To say it wasn’t in the spirit of the game is taking the piss. Rather than throwing Bancroft under the bus the ‘leadership team’ including the coaches need to be banned as well as the ICC investigating their betting patterns and habits.

[PaulWinch again]

Root gone.

[Villan For Life]

Smith and Warner have stepped down for the rest of the test.

[manic-road]

Smith and Warner have stepped down for the rest of the test.

Don't suppose that gobshite Warner will be gobbing off for a few weeks.