Editorial: Australian cricket needs to punish cheats properly

Steve Smith from Australia during day 4 of the 3rd Sunfoil Test match between South Africa and Australia Photo/Getty Images

Australia is a lovely place to visit ... I have had many happy times there.

But one does sometimes wonder whether its dubious origins as a penal colony have not cast a shadow over the place.

As a pioneering country, Aussie had to make up its own rules and adopt a "do-what-it-takes" mentality and that may have led to a maverick disregard for rules and regulations.

And despite the various encroachments of civilisation over 250 years or so, a certain lawlessness still seems to hold sway.

Take its politics - some of the most devious and feral in the Western world. Backstabbing is a birthright as leaders are rolled with regularity and the major parties spend so much time feuding among themselves that they rarely have time to take shots at their opponents.

Then there's the historic mistreatment of the indigenous Aboriginal people, and the shunting off of would-be refugees to containment camps on remote outposts such as Manus Island.

It hardly looks like a warm embrace of human rights.

And there are those who have been convicted of a crime, served their punishment and repaid their debt to society ... only to find they are being deported because the authorities don't like the cut of their gib. Is that justice?

So to this week's news that Australian cricket captain Steve Smith and senior players concocted a scheme to tamper with the ball in the test match against South Africa.

This is cheating with a capital C in a what has over the years tried to be a gentlemanly, and gentlewomanly, sport.

For those not versed in the ways of cricket, it is the equivalent of entering a house of god and defecating ... in front of a packed congregation.

The excuse that "every other team does it" only adds to the embarrassment.

Cricket's ruling international body has banned Smith for one game and fined him, which is the same as saying: "It's okay to cheat, Steve - but please don't get caught."

Let's hope the Aussie cricket authorities show a bit more backbone and show that rules and behaviour matter.

Smith's actions are not a reflection of the national psyche.