Mitchell Starc expresses anger over Steve Smith ball-tampering press conference

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https://www.hindustantimes.com/cricket/mitchell-starc-expresses-anger-over-steve-smith-ball-tampering-press-conference/story-eLcg6K5v1HaYruQHNuPdWN.html

 

Australia’s fast bowling spearhead Mitchell Starc has opened up to express his anger at the way former captain Steve Smith handled the initial press conference, on the outbreak of the ball-tampering controversy, during the Cape Town Test against South Africa earlier this year.

Speaking at a ‘Women in Banking and Financing’ forum in Sydney, Starc reiterated corporate adviser Sue Cato’s warnings against ‘ill-advised, ill-prepared’ press conferences, according to The Australian.

Starc said, “Going back to what Sue said before about being up front and tackling a problem head on, that’s something the group who decided to go into a press conference didn’t really think about. They obviously didn’t see how big the reaction was going to be at that time and then went down the path of not telling the whole truth and then I guess involving another group, which ruined — well, not ruined — but affected other reputations,” he added.

The report added that bowlers were angered upon being indirectly named by Smith, who later on clarified his part and Cricket Australia (CA) too gave them a clean chit.

In a shocking press conference, Smith and Cameron Bancroft admitted that Australia’s ‘leadership group’ had deliberately decided to tamper with the ball in a Test that they desperately needed to win.

What Smith did not specify in the press conference post third day’s play at Newlands was how many members were involved in the discussion, which led to one of the most embarrassing chapters in Australian cricket history.

From what is known, the Australian ‘leadership group’ on the field consisted captain Smith, deputy David Warner, spinner Nathan Lyon and fast bowlers Josh Hazlewood and Starc.

 

 

 

The scandal, whose repercussions could still be felt in Australian cricket, has seen Smith and Warner banned for a year, and Bancroft for nine months. Smith has also been handed a one-year ban from assuming leadership position in the Australian team whereas Warner can never be involved in any such role again.

Starc, who is currently recovering from bone stress reaction, admitted that there was ‘significant fallout’ among players post that press conference.

Earlier this week, Hazlewood too spoke about the incident at a program on Fox Sports, saying that the bowlers had no knowledge about the plan.

“We obviously have ball maintenance people in the team, usually batsmen because they are in the circle and the bowlers field at fine leg. They look after the ball from time to time and if it stops swinging, normally it starts to reverse swing. We pretty much get it at the top of our mark one second before we start running in. We have a quick look to see which side of the ball is more worn than the other,” he said.

Hazlewood expressed disappointment over what happened, particularly to the three players. “It was pretty emotional afterwards, probably more so the next morning after the news hit Australia and we woke up in South Africa. Obviously Steve and Dave stepped down that morning. It was tough to be out there actually,” he said.

“I feel for the three of them. Especially Steve. Being the skipper, he had to take the full brunt. I’ve spoken with him a fair bit since and he seems to be doing better every day,” Hazlewood added.

[Garuda]

The leadership group knew what they were doing. starc, hazlewood, and lyon need to be thankful that Smith didnt reveal them by name but only indirectly. Rather starc in particular went after smith . Smith should have made them cry in press conferences

[Gollum]

Steve Smith is the Bhishma Pitamah of Australian cricket, he has sacrificed his career and reputation for others. 

[sandeep]

Height of hypocritic shamelessness.  

 

Not only does this idiot expect people to buy the sham that bowlers "didn't know", and it was "only one time".  Now he wants to be upset about being implicated indirectly.  

 

When you are in a hole, ahole, stop digging.

[Iconoclast]

Angry they got caught ?

 

How the * does the bowler not know when the ball has been worked on ?

[velu]

sttarc is the biggets beneficary of this tampering and if he says thta he is not aware of sandpapering then god save austarlia 

[beetle]

Chori bhi..

Seenazori bhi..

 

[Clarke]

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Starc, however, clarified that his comments at the forum were in the context of a particular topic, "as it related to being honest and authentic in delivering a message". "This context has unfortunately been lost in certain media reporting and headlines in recent days," he said.

 

 

"Despite reports to the contrary, I continue to have utmost respect for Steve Smith as captain, teammate and friend and I look forward to having him back in our great game soon," Starc wrote on his website. "That goes for David and Cameron who have also been through an extremely tough time. It is good to see all three guys planning to be back in cricket soon in different competitions around the world.

 

 

"Rebuilding trust and developing a positive reputation will take time and through our actions, we hope to demonstrate this to cricket fans everywhere. The process has already started and the focus now should be on the cricket being played and the stories of performance and change in the current series, led by new Aussie coach Justin Langer, captain Tim Paine and the current team over in the UK."

 

 

Amidst growing reports of friction amongst the senior group of players in the team, Starc insisted that while it was a tough phase for the team, the relationships amongst the players were intact. "It was such a stressful time in our lives. There was strain on relationships both as individuals and as a team. However, the relationships of that group remain very much intact. I look forward to the opportunity to play alongside every one of my team mates from that tour again.

 

 

"We still have a long way to go in rebuilding the trust with the Australian public and I know personally, that I am 100 per cent committed to doing that."

http://www.cricbuzz.com/cricket-news/102461/mitchell-starc-offers-clarification-on-misconstrued-comments-on-steve-smith-ball-tampering-cricket-news