Cricket Australia on Tuesday appointed an ethics guru to review the sport’s culture in the wake of the ball-tampering scandal that unfolded in March. The governing body said it wanted to ensure there was never a repeat of the conduct during the third Test against South Africa that tarnished Australian cricket’s reputation.
“We understand and share the disappointment of fans and the broader Australian community about these events,” CA chairman David Peever said in a statement. “The board is determined to do all we can to prevent such events from ever happening again.”
During the match in Cape Town, captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and batsman Cameron Bancroft plotted to tamper with the ball using sandpaper, earning themselves lengthy bans.
Coach Darren Lehmann also resigned amid criticism he allowed a win-at-all-costs attitude to flourish that gave rise to the cheating scandal.
CA has acknowledged cultural issues within the team and on Tuesday said Simon Longstaff would conduct a wide-ranging review into the sport. Longstaff is the head of Sydney-based non-profit organisation The Ethics Centre, which aims to promote ethical decision-making in business, government and everyday life.
He is expected to quiz current and former players, administrators, media and sponsors about ethical issues facing the sport before making recommendations. Longstaff did not comment in the CA statement but said last month that those involved in the scandal had lost their “internal compass”.
“(It’s) essentially good people making bad decisions with sometimes calamitous effects – tragically so as we’ve seen in this case,” he told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
“It’s an inability to recognise the small things that start to change the seeds of some deeper corruption of a core set of values and principles... a type of deviance becomes normalised.”
Longstaff’s review will run in tandem with a separate probe announced last month into player behaviour headed by former Test batsman Rick McCosker.
