Cricket Australia’s early response to cheating doesn’t pass the crisis comms test
Crisis comms expect Patrick Southam weighs in on exactly where Cricket Australia went wrong in its response to the cheating scandal that has engulfed Aussie media.
The unedifying ball-tampering crisis engulfing the Australian cricket team and its captain Steve Smith has placed the spotlight squarely on the response by the sport’s governing body, Cricket Australia.
How an organisation responds to a high-profile crisis often says more about its real values than any slick ad campaign could ever hope to communicate.
But the early signs are not good, judging by the initial response from long serving Cricket Australia CEO, James Sutherland.
At a media conference on Sunday morning in Melbourne, a visibly shocked Sutherland initially refused to say whether Steve Smith would be sacked as captain. He also declined to call the ball-tampering “cheating” and studiously avoided using the word even though the evidence was in.
Sutherland told the media Smith would continue to captain the Australian team while an “integrity investigation” was conducted into the ball-tampering incident. “We need to understand the facts before we take action,” he said.
But only a few hours earlier in South Africa, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft had actually admitted to ball-tampering during an after-match media conference. They could hardly have done otherwise. It was seen live on TV during the third test and subsequently broadcast around the world. Even our Prime Minister weighed in, slamming the team for “cheating”.
Incredulous reporters covering Sutherland’s presser could be heard asking him what further evidence he needed to stand Smith down as captain.
This clearly didn’t pass the pub test, and Cricket Australia issued a statement late on Sunday announcing that Smith and Dave Warner had agreed to stand down as captain and vice-captain respectively for the remainder of the game.
Sutherland and Cricket Australia failed at the first hurdle in their response to a developing crisis, and it doesn’t augur well as the crisis unfolds in the days and weeks ahead.
So, how should Cricket Australia respond to the worst captaincy crisis since 1981, when skipper Greg Chappell instructed his brother Trevor to bowl underarm with the last ball in a match against New Zealand to secure a victory?
With fans and former players across the world branding the Australians as cheats, Cricket Australia must take firm and decisive action now to cauterise this crisis and begin rebuilding the reputation of the team. These are my suggested responses:
– Steve Smith’s position is untenable and Cricket Australia should terminate his contract immediately. This can be achieved by triggering the clause in his contract covering player behaviour. By his actions Smith has unquestionably brought the game into disrepute, and damaged Cricket Australia’s reputation with fans and sponsors. Smith can still ply his trade in the Indian Premier League.
– Steve Smith has admitted some members of his “leadership group” were aware of his decision to cheat by tampering with the ball. This includes vice-captain David Warner. He should receive a minimum 12-month ban from representing Australia in all forms of cricket.
– Cameron Bancroft, who did the illegal tampering under the glare of live TV cameras, should also be banned for 12 months.
– To date there has been a deafening silence on this crisis from the team coach, Darren Lehmann. His win-at-all-costs attitude has been blamed for a poor culture in the team. There is media speculation he was aware of the cheating ploy. If this was the case he should be sacked immediately.
Crises demand leadership from the top, and outraged Australian cricket fans are demanding some decisive action from Cricket Australia sooner rather than later.
On Monday Jaimie Fuller, the executive chairman of compression wear company Skins, hit the nail on the head in a full page open letter ad to Cricket Australia in the Sydney Morning Herald. He wrote in part: “You need to tell us who’s behind this, who came up with the idea, who agreed to it, who knew about it. Not in one month or so, but in the next few days.
“And you should worry less about the whether we will win this or the next Test, and more about the reputation of you governance and leadership of the game, the reputation of the game so many of us love, and the reputation of Australia.”
The fourth and final test of this acrimonious series is due to begin in South Africa on Friday. As it is, this game will be a humiliating farce for the Australian team.
Before then, Cricket Australia needs to demonstrate some real leadership by announcing a satisfactory response to this unseemly crisis.
Patrick Southam is a partner at Sydney PR firm Reputation Edge.
While I believe the decision to put Smith and Bancroft before the cameras on the day of the incident was a mistake from a crisis communications perspective, the reaction by the Australian media and commentators to the incident has been over the top in the extreme.
Anyone who has played park cricket, let alone, international, state or grade cricket knows some form of ball tampering occurs in EVERY innings of EVERY game.
I am still trying to decide whether the reaction of supposed sports journalists and commentators shows their complete naivety to what goes on in the game or whether they live in a dreamworld where they think that sport in Australia is played in a friendly, almost non-competitive manner where participants simply play and don’t try to seek advantage to win.
Journalists and commentators need to stop treating their audiences as fools. And presenting themselves in the same manner.
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@Steve The fact that people cheat at lower sports levels doesn’t make it right at the top level. It makes it worse.
Yes participants exploit loopholes in rules and the fine lines where rules are enforced to try and seek a competitive advantage, but this is cheating as clear as daylight, red handedly caught on camera. To add to insult, it’s a form of cheating we’ve regularly levelled at competitors with great indignation.
Your attitude is basically everyone’s doing it so it’s just bad luck they got caught. Hey why not change the rules then? Heck, while we’re at it let’s give Lance back his seven tour wins and have the ‘roid’ games.
I wonder whether this brazen cheating without real remorse – except for the fact they were caught, the gormless ‘leadership group’s’ apology, their admission of guilt but without acceptance of responsibility and blase attitude to cheating could in fact have a generational component?
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I love the fact that every PR “expert” pops up when there is a crisis and tells us all how they would have done it. Classic 20/20 hindsight, and marketing themselves.
Its not that easy when you are in the thick of it, but very easy to be a sideline expert after the fact.
And lets try and avoid the mob/lynching mentality- the time has to fit the crime. All the calls for 12 month and life bans are way over the top for as Steve says, something which happens in every game and is an accepted part of cricket
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You beat me to it about the “crisis” thing.
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Acrually Al, it is easy if you have been around the block a few times and focussed your career on issues and crisis management for say 20 years or more. The only issue is if senior leadership do not listen to you, or as a practitioner you don’t make a good case for best practice and roll over. In those cases the “PR expert” needs to get a new employer.
It is glaringly obvious that what Sutherland should have said instead is something like:
a) this behaviour is disgusting and unacceptable
b) clearly the evidence is damning
c) however we have to go through the process and get to the bottom of this
d) in my view, the harshest penatly should apply and I will be recommending contract termination, bans for those involved
e) I want this matter concluded ASAP
Further questions around what penalties can be referenced back to C and D. Questions on timeframe are described as a matter of days.
That’s what I would have recommended. Good article Patrick!
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Sure, Sutherland could have done it better but he didn’t do that badly either. He was emotional and that said a lot. I doubt the author, who has filed the story three days after the incident, would have done any different that point. In fact, I’m sure in the heat of battle he would have recommended an inquiry “so we can get to the bottom of this”.
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Yes it is always easier in hindsight but if you are experienced and passionate and can make a case instead of rolling over justt po get it out of the way, then a better message structure would have been:
1. This is disgusting and intolerable
2. The evidence is damning
3. This should have the harshest penalty possible but we have to follow a process to get the full understanding.
4. In my view, a lifetime ban, may be the best outcome.
5. I want this resolved ASAP – in a matter of days.
If he had said that, a lot of the follow on damage would have been mitigated. I’ve done this countless times over decades right in the middle of it, in real time, not just in hindsight.
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It appears to me that crisis experts tend to be self-promotion experts. This was a pretty easy-to-write crack at Cricket Australia. I reckon you’d want to let due process run so they couldn’t be accused of making decisions based on a press conference.But then, I’m not an expert…
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I disagree with this, surely Sutherland needs to find out all the facts before making any decisions. He’s rightly condemned the behaviour and has asked for a thorough investigation to take place. It’s his next set of actions that will measure the success of his handling of the crisis.
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A PR expert giving advice on how this should be mangaged is a joke. Your hubris blinds you to how silly this looks.
Also it’s people’s livelihood here. Show some respect.
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“The most important lesson of media management 101 is to determine the facts, take control and get your message straight. This is where CA went wrong from the start. Apparently there was nobody of any seniority on tour with the team. They had to scramble to get people on planes and over to South Africa just to work out what the hell had happened. Not a good start.”
https://www.crikey.com.au/2018/04/03/no-balls-how-cricket-australia-lost-the-media-game/
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