After the ball-tampering scandal in Cape Town on Saturday, Richard Mann thinks Darren Lehmann must fall on his sword as Australia try to save the reputation of the baggy green.
“The cap is the tangible representation of the privilege of playing for Australia. Everything is represented by the cap.” - David Boon
“Players recognise the sense of humility that comes with the cap and with wearing the cap.” - Len Pascoe
“The baggy green sums up our country. It sums up the mateship, the Anzac spirit.” – Kim Hughes
They say to wear the baggy green is an honour like no other, the ultimate privilege for an Australian cricketer which brings with it a sense of duty to uphold its strong traditions and enrich the great history it has.
The responsibility to represent your country with pride and honour and to act as a custodian of the game we all love, showcasing the best it has to offer and taking that image to young fans all around the world.
To watch Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft sitting in a press conference at the end of the third day’s play in Cape Town – both wearing their baggy greens – explaining their roles in the pre-planned, ball-tampering attempt must have been a dagger through the hearts of former Australian players and fans alike.
When Mickey Arthur was replaced by Darren Lehmann as coach of the Australian national team on the eve of the 2013 Ashes in England, it was seen as a positive move, a step away from Arthur’s tough, disciplinarian regime and a chance for this young side to be allowed a greater level of freedom and responsibility under a more relaxed Lehmann.
But behind the scenes, Lehmann has exerted more control over his players than ever before and the results have been downright ugly.
Upon his appointment, the then captain, Michael Clarke, was stripped of his role as a team selector, a move that was at odds with his predecessor, Ricky Ponting, who had strongly recommended to the Argus Review that the captain should be a selector and remain in overall control of cricket matters.
Clarke’s influence dwindled over team affairs in the remaining years of his tenure and he retired in 2015, Smith taking over as captain alongside 'head coach' Lehmann.
There have been plenty of highs and lows throughout the subsequent five years of Lehmann’s tenure, two home Ashes victories and a World Cup win earning him widespread praise to accompany the disappointment at the team’s continued struggles on foreign soil.
For now, it isn’t results that should concern Lehmann's employers at Cricket Australia, how its players behave has come into much sharper focus and the image of the cricket team isn’t a pretty one.
What is most striking is how little sympathy there has been from the cricket community in the fallout of the ball-tampering scandal, and the sight of Smith and Bancroft trying to breeze their way through their now famous press conference won't have won them many friends.
Smith, in particularly, didn't appear to understand the gravity of what he had done, though plenty have drawn the conclusion that his own arrogance led him to believe he and his team were untouchable, however serious their misdemeanours.
His comments in the immediate aftermath - "No, I won't be considering stepping down [as captain]. I still think I'm the right the person for the job. We'll move past this. It's a big error in judgement but we'll learn from it and move past it" - will have done little to change the seemingly universal negative opinions of him.
If Smith underestimated the level of anger from the cricket public at that point, he surely gets it now, but the subsequent outcry is about more than ball-tampering; the Australian cricket team is disliked the world over because of its poor behaviour, aggressive attitude and outrageous arrogance.
Since Lehmann’s appointment, his teams have continually crossed the line they profess so passionately about and it is noticeable how many former players have come out to condemn him and his players since the weekend.
In Australia’s 5-0 home Ashes whitewash of England in 2013, Clarke famously shouted to James Anderson "Face up then. Get ready for a broken f***ing arm."
With the stump mics turned up and a packed Brisbane crowd watching on, it didn’t paint a good picture of the game, though Clarke was quick to apologise for his language afterwards and appeared to at least grasp the importance of maintaining certain standards with a wide-ranging audience sure to be watching.
South African captain Faf du Plessis, who gave a typically classy interview on the conclusion of the Cape Town Test, likened the Australians to a pack of "wild dogs" back in 2014 and was then himself accused and found guilty of ball-tempering on their tour Down Under in 2016.
Every now and then it is necessary for sport to demonstrate why cheating doesn’t pay. A watershed moment? pic.twitter.com/feXBWenyTH
— Jonathan Agnew (@Aggerscricket) March 25, 2018
Du Plessis was found guilty of eating mints whilst shining the ball and the Australian media were particularly ruthless in their assessment of the episode - David Warner went as far as to tell a press conference "I won't comment on the way [South Africa] have been behaving but I just know from an Australian cricket perspective; we hold our heads high and I'll be very disappointed if one of our teammates [illegally change the condition of the ball]."
In 2015, Warner was embroiled in a desperately ugly spat with India’s Rohit Sharma in a ODI at the MCG in 2015.
Warner's explanation for his part in the incident didn’t sit well with many at the time: "A few of the boys said something to him and when I went over to say something, he sort of said something in their language and I said 'speak English', because if you're going to say something, for me to understand theoretically, I cannot speak Hindi."
He later accepted he was in the wrong but Lehmann’s own comments on the matter - "it’s not a great look" but that his team would always "teeter close to the line" hardly suggested he would be taking a hard line with serial offender, Warner.
Smith came under the spotlight when he looked towards his own dressing room for help with a DRS call against India in Bangalore last year.
Smith later passed off his misdemeanour, which is strictly against the rules, as a "brain fade" and promised such actions wouldn’t be repeated again.
The Australian camp then took particular offence when India captain Virat Kohli made a thinly-veiled suggestion that Smith had tried to cheat the system but the incident still hasn’t been forgotten in India, where more than a hint of scepticism remains regarding DRS.
Warner was back in the headlines in the first Test of the ongoing South Africa series, having to be physically restrained following a heated exchange with Quinton de Kock in the players tunnel adjacent to the changing rooms.
All the while, Lehmann has continued to support and seemingly encourage such practice, despite Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland telling reporters that he has recently felt the need to speak to Smith about his players’ behaviour.
Lehmann has branded the South African crowds as "disgraceful" in recent weeks and while he clearly has a point, he has received little sympathy from the wider cricket community, most probably because he once made a scathing attack on England’s Stuart Broad, accusing him of cheating and urging the Australian public to "give it to him right from the word go for the whole summer," adding "I hope he cries and he goes home."
Despite some of the wonderful cricket it has produced, the current Test Series between South Africa and Australia has been played in bad spirit and there is clearly fault on both sides.
Some of the crowd behaviour has been unacceptable and Cricket South Africa must take responsibility for that.
But there is a common denomonater here, Lehmann’s Australia.
Lehmann, Smith, Warner, Bancroft, Peter Handscomb - trouble seems to follow them around and cricket fans have had enough.
If, as expected, Smith loses the Australian captaincy, just as he has with IPL franchise Rajahstan Royals, and Warner the vice-captaincy, Lehmann must take his share of the blame.
His silence has been deafening since Bancroft was caught with tape in his pants, but his team has admitted cheating and it is time for its head coach to fall on his sword, before the black shadow cast over the baggy green leaves a permanent mark on Australian cricket.
