4th Test: South Africa vs Australia
A national scandal, Australia’s darkest day, a humiliated captain…I could go on.
For no sports betting fan is really talking about the actual cricket ahead of the fourth and final test in Johannesburg.
The betting odds show the hosts are favourites with Asian Handicap pricing South Africa @ 1.27 and the Aussies @ 3.56 but in many ways, the outcome is secondary even before a ball has been bowled.
Australia could even break all records before them over the next few days but everything they do will be tarnished now and for some time to come.
Captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft are all being sent home for ball-tampering in the Cape Town third test and must now be suspended for a long time.
Not until they have fully realised the damage they have caused to Australian cricket—a sport that unites a country—should they even be considered for a recall.
Indeed, Cricket Australia chief executive James Sutherland has already indicated the sanctions handed down to the trio will be ‘significant’.
Whether they should be forced out of the game forever is a different argument in an era where test cricketers should be applauded for exploring every possible way to gain an advantage—so long as it’s ethical and legal.
Head coach Darren Lehmann will also face some uneasy questions in the weeks ahead, regardless of whether he knew of his players’ intentions.
As the enormity of the scandal engulfing Australia cricket grows, so the reality is only beginning to sink in.
With a Johannesburg crowd possibly baying for blood at the infamous Bullring at the Wanderers, each Australian player will no doubt be booed to the crease.
As if their heaviest defeat by South Africa since readmission wasn’t bad enough, now their own has turned on its cricket team.
The long-held misgivings about Smith’s team are now confirmed and life is about to get very uncomfortable after skulduggery struck and convulsed a nation.
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Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
