Redemption and Ruin - Two Roads Back to Test Cricket

At the end of March 2018, Australian Cricket was rocked by arguably it's worst scandal since Shane Warne was sent home from the 2003 World Cup, when rookie Cameron Bancroft, at the direction of senior batsman David Warner was caught ball tampering during the team's tour of South Africa.

I won't rehash what happened in detail, but suffice to say that Bancroft was caught rubbing sandpaper on the surface of the ball, and during the investigation that followed, Warner and Captain Steve Smith were also implicated in the incident.

Aside from the ICC penalties (which were in line with similar previous incidents around the globe), the Australian public, and in turn Cricket Australia were much more damning. Bancroft was handed a 9 month ban, Smith and Warner were stripped of their leadership roles and banned for 12 months.

Those penalties were accepted and served, and the 2019 Ashes Tour of England marked the return to Test cricket for the trio. Bancroft's return went largely unnoticed. He was only a rookie when the incident happened, and it was widely accepted that he followed some really bad advice of senior teammates. He played the first couple of matches, and after a couple of low scores, was dropped for Marcus Harris.

Warner and Smith, however, were under much more scrutiny. Both were rushed back into the national side and awarded central contracts. Some, myself included, thought the contracts were a bit hasty and needed to be earned again, but they got them.

When the first Test began at Birmingham, both Smith and Warner were taunted by the English crowd. Heckling, booing and generally given a pretty hard time (which is ironic given England's own history of ball alterations). Warner scored 2 & 8 whilst Smith made 144 & 142 as Australia cruised to victory by 251 runs.

Onwards to Lord's where Day 1 was lost to inclement weather, along with a significant amount of time on subsequent days. There was, however, enough time for Warner to fail twice more with scores of 3 and 5, whilst Smith scored 92 in the first innings, but after being struck heavily by a Jofra Archer thunderbolt, he became the first player to be subbed out of a Test with concunssion. His place in the second innings was taken by Marnus Labuschagne as the match ebbed to a draw.

Smith missed the Leeds Test, Warner did manage 61 in the first innings, only slightly less than the 67 that the entire England side put together, but then failed to score in the second innings as Australia snatched defeat from the jaws of victory on the back of a brutal century by Ben Stokes.

On the eve of the fourth Test at Old Trafford, the Australians were keen to atone for letting the last match slip so badly. An optional net session was called, where, by all reports, almost the entire squad turned up - the exception being David Warner - a curious choice given his form on tour had not been particularly dominant. The last three players to leave the session were Smith, his replacement in the previous Test Labuschagne and Captain Tim Paine. Warner's absence from this optional training session, however, suggests that he hasn't embraced the new team culture under Paine's leadership.

Based on his performances in that match, Warner, probably should have made the most of that net session, as he failed to score a run from the full 8 deliveries he faced during the match. Smith, on the other hand, continued his charmed run with the bat, scoring 211 & 82 as Australia secured retention of the famous urn winning by 185 runs.

With the Ashes retained, it was on to The Oval for the final Test and a desire to win the series outright. Smith made 80 in the first innings, and for the first time in the Series, failed to pass 50 when fell for 23 in the second innings. That 23 was still more than Warner scored for the match, however, with his contribution of 5 & 11 as England denied Australia a series win, with a 135 run victory.

In what was probably the most telling difference between the two players, was the reaction of the crowd after Smith's 23 runs. Having witnessed Smith feast on the English bowling to the tune of 774 Runs in just 7 innings, the crowd acknowledged that he had achieved something special by sending him off with a standing ovation - quite the turnaround from the hostile reaction received at the beginning of the series. Warner, on the other hand, was left with question marks over his place in the side for the Australian summer.

Smith acknowledges the crowd after receiving a standing ovation to end his remarkable series - photo: AP