Cricinfo - Why Warne missed out on Test captaincy

This is the piece on cricinfo on why Warne never made the cut when it came to captaincy.
In fact I think its very simple and it doesn't take much thinking about. If someone is caught taking money for information about a cricket match should he be playing? Or should he be captaining Australia? No prizes for the right answer.

__________________
"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

Warne was given money to give his opinion of pitch conditions. Of course, no-one actually knows how the pitch will play until they actually play on it, and no-one knows who will win the toss, or what the groundsman will to do the wicket on the morning of the match, so that information is next to useless. Also, they actually send commentators with cameras on the pitch prior to play, stick keys in it ect, and give everyone a comprehensive view of the wicket, do they not?

CA, the WICB and BCCI took part in a triangular competition in Malaysia last year (KLF Cup) with the terms agreed being, that the West Indies, and Australian teams received a $US 1million bonus, providing India made the final. Now in terms of corruption and breaking the spirit of the game, who was worse - CA or Warne? No prizes for the right answer.

__________________

Two wrongs don't make a right Seamer. Who was worse? Both. CA for playing against the spirit of the game, and Warne for losing his chance to captain Australia.

__________________
Frank Skinner: "You know when Glenn McGrath trod on that cricket ball? Don't you wish it would've been a landmine?"

But SS, is there anything wrong with speculating on pitch conditions leading up to a test? It certainly breaks no laws or rules, and IMO, doesn't contravene the "spirit of the game"

There is always talk of pitch conditions prior to the game - often by the groundsman preparing the wicket. Remember Ponting making foolish decisions at the toss during the 2005 ashes series, based on what experts and groundsman has said on what the pitch would be like? Such speculation is all par for the course, and usually, completely wrong.

If he had accepted a deal based on the result of a match (such as CA did for the KLF cup) then that would be corrupt. But offering a speculative opinion and nothing else? Nothing wrong with that as far as i am concerned.

__________________

Warne and Mark Waugh took money I think everyone agrees this is wrong, the Australian cricket board thought so they imposed a fine.
It sends out a message to the cricket world that Australia is willing to have a captain who takes money this is untenable. The Austarlian cricket board followed the only path it could take.

__________________
"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

John, you must have missed my previous two posts in this thread, so i will re-iterate. This is how i imagine the whole deal went down.

Malaysia 2006 - KLF cup - Australian ans West Indian dressing rooms.

"Boys, if we can swing it so that India makes it to the final, we each pocket a nice cool US$90,000 apiece. But if they don't make it, we don't get a cent. I don't know about you guys, but i am kinda hankering to put a down-payment on that new speedboat i have been looking at"

For everyone to happily accept what went down in Malaysia, yet criticize Warne and Waugh - it all seem so very hypocritical.

And not everyone agrees that what Warne did was wrong - i don't.

__________________

And while i am on it, i think Warne has been an innocent victim in all these so-called controversies. The lack of loyalty shown by both CA and his wife Simone has been disgraceful to be honest. I feel for the guy.

__________________

If it wasn't wrong why did the Australian cricket board fine him. And why did they try and coverup, it was a journalist who uncovered what had happened an Australian journalist who thought the public ought to know. Good on him.
I have met several people some invovled in cricket and none of taken your rose tinted spectale approach. Nobody accepts Shane Warne's babes in the wood routine.

There are also people who think presdient Nixon did nothing wrong see Paul Johnson but overwhelming opinion is that Nixon is corrupt.

__________________
"Checkout the big brain on Brett" Pulp Fiction

A cover up implies there was something to cover up in the first place. Taking this fact into consideration, the Australian Cricket Board must be found 'not guilty' on this charge.

Why did the cricket board fine him? A combination of media sensationalism, leading to a trial by media which in turn led to huge pressure by the international cricket community. But it sure as hell wasn't because there was proof Warne committed anything illegal. The whole case is just a sad example of how the Community really are guided by the media in how they think, and act.

I have also met some people involved in cricket believing Warne to be guilty. I have met none that could offer up any proof though, or anything that could remotely be thought of as proof, that he did anything wrong/illegal. It's generally thought in the Community that Warne took money to throw matches, but that was nothing more than speculation and sensationalism started by the media. People continually say we live in a society that demands innocence till guilt is proven, but more and more cases keep appearing that reveal it for the lie it is.

@Seamer: The lack of loyalty shown by Simone was completely justified. I was waiting for a Sam Newman type incident to occur between Simone and Warne *Vrrroooom Vrrroooom*

I think the captain of an international team has to be a good PR guy. Having a captain who will get caught with his pants down in all the wrong places is not good PR. Having a captain who takes banned substances is not good PR. Having a captain who publicly ridicules an umpire for giving decisions against him (as he did to Asad Rauf a few year back) is disgraceful- and while I agree with you, Seamer, that taking money for pitch information wasn't really corruption, it was still a pretty stupid thing to do. Captains simply have to be held to higher standards, and I don't think Warne would have lived up to them.