Sir Alastair Cook, former England captain, has recently made shocking revelations about Australian players – David Warner and Steve Smith's conduct on the field in his autobiography, saying the Aussies went too far to maintain their culture of ‘win at all cost’.
The ball-tampering in cricket has many times maligned the reputation of the game and the matter has once again come into the limelight after Cook’ surprising revelation about Warner’s conduct in a First-Class cricket match. In his autobiography, the legendary Test batsman also claimed that Australian cricket is surrounded by the mentality of winning at any cost.
It is known to everyone Australian players can do anything to win the matches and no one knows their behavior better than England players on the field thanks to their long-standing rivalry in the game.
Having played as many as seven Ashes series, Cook is well familiar with the Australian culture and the players, revealing Warner had once told him how he tampered with the ball in a First-class match in his autobiography. He also revealed if Smith hadn't interrupted, he could have told many more things.
Recalling the players sharing beers after the 2017-18 Ashes, Cook said: “David Warner, a couple of beers into his celebration, mentioned that he used substances attached to the strapping on his hand to accelerate the deterioration of the ball during a first-class match. I looked at Steve Smith who shot a glance that said: ‘Ooh, you shouldn’t have said that.”
He also commented on the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal which saw both Smith and Warner one-year suspension, saying the only good thing is that they realized their mistake.
Cook signed off by saying, “Stuart Broad sums it up pretty well and says they got the ball to reverse swing in that Ashes. Why change what you’ve been doing? Why suddenly use sandpaper? People know what was going on. But it’s been the best thing for Australian cricket because they realized it wasn’t acceptable. The win-at-all-costs culture they created isn’t what the Australian public needed or wanted. They’d gone too far.”
(With The Guardian Inputs)
