Agent nods said..
There is no excuse for what the Australians did.
But the Captain for S. Africa, Faf du Plessis has been found guilty twice for ball tampering.
While we should see it stamped out of the game, To give any Australian a much harsher penalty will be hard to stand up in appeals/courts.
The ICC needs to up the penalties for future incidents.
I dunno..... I haven't checked it up, but if the harsher penalties were well argued and there was good evidence of the chain of thought that led to the higher penalties, surely they could well stand up on appeal? Much of the problem in this sort of matter comes when those responsible don't clearly set out their reasoning and evidence, which leaves them liable to be alleged of bias or of a breach of procedural fairness. The national-hero status of the Australian cricket team is probably relevant; they are expected to uphold high standards since it's our only real national game.
It's a stupid move that has done enormous damage to the sport, surely, and all to save one test. I've never had sympathy for cheats so I may be biased. The cheats in well paid pro sports seem the worst in some ways - after all, even if they lost they still have big contracts and fat wallets to fall back on.
