Busaholic
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2014
- Messages
- 14,096
I take a longer-term view. I think 'sandpapergate' will be put into perspective and be forgotten about by most cricket followers in a very short space of time, although the 'Barmy Army' will doubtless seek to milk it for evermore. A recent obituary for the Pakistani leg spinner Abdul Qadir, who shone intermittently prior to Shane Warne's emergence, quoted him as saying he hadn't known any of his fast bowling teammates who hadn't tampered with the ball, and who can forget Michael Atherton's dirt in pocket when he captained against South Africa? Well, actually, most have forgotten or never knew about it in the first place. The fact is, if you're a sub-standard bowler you won't gain anything from ball tampering, whereas the geniuses (Wasim Akram and Waqar Younis, for instance) would become even more lethal. Would that batsmen could learn some new tricks, now that the advantage of huge cudgels has been shown to be nothing in test cricket should you lack the basic skills.He is a cheat and a fantastic batsman. Sadly the later will always be tainted by the former no matter how much people seek to absolve him. That is what annoys me the most. He had no need to allow his side to cheat.
OK, above slightly tongue in cheek, but Smith's achievement won't be overshadowed imo.