It's Just Not Aussie Cricket

Ball-tamperers Smith and Warner can’t get back on the pitch fast enough to end their fellows’ humiliation.

- Paul Thomas

If a week is a long time in sport, a year must be an age. To the Australian cricket community, January 2018 must seem to belong to a bygone era, a mythical golden age when the men in the baggy green caps ruled the roost and all was right with the world.

A year ago, Australia crushed England at the Sydney Cricket Ground to win the Ashes 4-0. The scorecard reflected the dismal one-sidedness of a much-anticipated series: after dismissing England for 346, Australia declared at 649 for 7, then bowled England out for 180 to win by an innings and 123 runs.

Fast forward a year: the Australian squad for their upcoming series against Sri Lanka is missing five of the X1 that played in Sydney. The goners are Shaun and Mitchell Marsh, who both made centuries at the SCG but have floundered at test level since, and the Three Miscreants: ex-captain Steve Smith, exvice-captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft. Smith and Warner are still serving bans for their part in the ball-tampering scandal that detonated like a bomb under Australian cricket last March; having served his time, Bancroft has begun his comeback in Australia’s T20 competition.