The Australian ball-tampering scandal continues to ripple far beyond cricket circles, with captain Steve Smith portrayed as arch-villain in the sorry saga.
A tide of moral outrage has flowed ever since Smith admitted conspiring to tamper with the ball during the third test against South Africa in Cape Town last week.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull described it as a “shocking disappointment”, sponsors of Australia’s national sport are said to be reviewing their involvement and Smith has been banned for one test with his future as captain in serious doubt.
It was even the lead story on BBC’s News at Ten on Sunday.
The good and the great of world cricket are queuing up to take pot shots at Smith and his senior players for what has been described as an act of cheating, though Australia still lost the match comfortably.
The fallout has been extraordinary, considering those in numerous sports have found ways of pushing rules to and over the boundary without quite such widespread condemnation.
Doping is regarded as one of the most unpalatable forms of cheating, but there are many other examples of sportsmen and women trying to gain an edge, from a soccer players diving to win penalties to tennis players taking well-timed ‘toilet breaks’.
Some are more sophisticated, far more sophisticated than Australia’s opening batsman Cameron Bancroft rubbing dust into a piece of sticky tape to create a rudimentary piece of sandpaper with which to work on the ball. Reuters