MARCH 31 — Did you hear about the national scandal that has erupted in Australia this week? An event that has shaken the nation to its core and left grown men in tears?

It’s all about the game of cricket. During a test match in South Africa, the Australian national team were found to have cheated by attempting to change the condition of the ball.

The culprit was young player Cameron Bancroft, who hid sandpaper in his trouser pocket and used it to rub against the ball, artificially “roughening up” one side of the ball in an attempt to help his side’s bowlers by altering its flight patterns through the air.

The plan was apparently cooked up by the team’s vice-captain David Warner and given the consent of captain Steve Smith, but coach Darren Lehmann was apparently unaware of what was being plotted.

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Unsurprisingly, Bancroft was caught doing the deed by one of the dozens of television cameras which cover every inch of a test cricket match, and now all hell has broken loose.

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull led the offensive, describing the incident as a “disgrace” and stating it “has been a shocking affront to Australia.”

Reflecting the severe tone of Turnbull, Cricket Australia took swift action. Smith and Warner have been banned from the team for a year, and Bancroft has been given a slightly lesser nine-month sanction on the grounds that he was only acting under orders. And Lehmann, despite supposedly being ignorant of the plan, has resigned from his position as coach.

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That’s not all. The team’s title sponsor, investment company Magellan, has pulled out of its deal. All three players have lost their lucrative contracts with overseas club teams, Smith has been dropped from a lucrative advertising deal with a cereal company, and he broke down into floods of tears at a press conference when he apologised for what happened and reflected how much he has hurt his parents.

And all this for rubbing a piece of sandpaper against a cricket ball?

If that all sounds like an overreaction for a bit of sly cheating in a game, it just goes to show the incredibly high ethical standards demanded of elite sports stars. 

When they fall short of the lofty targets they are saddled with, they are savaged with the sternest possible condemnation and made to feel as though they are the scum of the earth.

This is a tough thing for sportspeople to live with, but it is also a great example for society and we can only wish that other areas of cultural life — such as politics and commerce — were subjected to such ferociously intense scrutiny.

We all know that politicians of all colours lie as a matter of routine, and that when they are caught they never show contrition but continue to make pathetic excuses, piling lie upon lie and deceit upon deceit. We moan about it, berate them, but then we forget about it and nothing changes.

We all know that very few elements of the business world have any kind of moral barometre because everything stops with the bottom line — cash. If they can get away with it, most big businesses would without hesitation pay their staff too little money to carry out jobs in poor working conditions, run misleading advertising campaigns about their products and save a few more dollars by under-declaring their taxes.

This week, for example, Facebook are continuing to show no real contrition over their latest high-profile privacy policy failures, while claims that the Brexit campaign cheated by overspending on campaigning have been swiftly and cheerfully swept under the carpet. Things like this just happen all the time and we accept it.

In sport, though, if a player is found to have “crossed the line” of acceptable behaviour, it’s a very long road back. Will Lance Armstrong ever find credibility again in mainstream society? Could Ben Johnson ever do enough to atone for his sins? We demand a huge amount from our sports stars, and we treat them without mercy if they let us down.

Standing strong through it all, however, is cricket.

Some people — including disgraced Aussia captain Smith — have stated that cricket has been “damaged” by this ball-tampering affair, but I don’t think that’s the case at all.

If the Aussies had got away with their ploy, or been given a trifling punishment, or if nobody really cared about it, then it would have been damaging for cricket because it would have showed that the laws and spirit of the game could be attacked without retribution.

But the opposite has actually happened. Smith, Warner and Bancroft attempted to damage cricket by undermining one of its golden rules — do not alter the condition of the ball — but Cricket fought back and has put them firmly in their place. “Do not mess with me!” says Cricket. “I am greater than you and I can destroy you!”

It’s comforting to know that such a place still exists, and shows that, when it comes to ethical values, sport leads the way for the rest of society to follow.

* This is the personal opinion of the columnist.