Assuming Steven Smith and David Warner, as captain and vice-captain respectively, are solely responsible for cheating, aside from Cameron Bancroft, this is a model apology they could make.

This is using the PeaceWise Seven ‘A’ apologies:

With our diabolical actions, we have hurt our team, our country, our fans. We have also hurt cricket. Due to our positions at the top of our beloved sport, our actions have potentially affected all fans around the world. There is no corner of the cricket world that is not surprised by our actions.

Our actions, pure and simple, reflect that we were willing to do anything to win. Yes, we were willing to cheat. It doesn’t matter in our minds what other players and countries have done when it comes to cheating. We accept that we have cheated. It’s as simple as that.

We meet during a game break and deliberately plan to act in a way that goes against the rules of our big game. We conspire to do that. We discover how it is possible that they do not detect us. We believed we could get away with it, otherwise we wouldn’t have. We manipulate the ball and we never should have, let alone consider it. It was and will always be wrong.

We wish to acknowledge the great pain we have caused so many millions of fans who are angry and disgusted. We acknowledge your pain. You all deserve not to feel this way. We can’t imagine how it must feel, but we deeply regret the pain we have caused all of you.

Of course, we accept the consequences that come our way, and we would like to add, that due to the stupidity of our actions and the seriousness of our offense, we want you to know that we are choosing to withdraw from international cricket, effectively. immediately. This means that this is our last test match. We feel that we have dishonored both our big game and ourselves, that we want you, the paying public, to decide whether and not we should continue playing or not. If you are silent and want to accept our withdrawal, we respect you and will move on with our lives, accepting the consequences of our actions.

Whenever we enter the field from now on, for our state and club teams, we promise that from now on we will be of exemplary behavior, related to both respect for the rules and the players. We will never do anything related to cheating again.

We recognize that we have no right to be forgiven for what we have done. But if you could find it in your heart to forgive our reprehensible actions, we will always be grateful. Our goal from this day on is to do everything possible to redeem the trust that we have lost.

We are very sorry for what we have done and the premeditated thinking and seriously foolish decision that was made.

***

This is the kind of apology that I think all Australians seek, first, and the whole cricket world, second. It is an apology that is needed.

What the hell were they thinking?

And we Australian cricket audiences want to hear the whole sordid story.

Is there anything you, the reader, would add to enhance the apology?

P.S. As the author of this article, I want to say that I am a fan of David Warner, that he was my favorite cricketer and has been since 2009 when he made his way to the national team, and Steve Smith was not far behind in my estimation. I personally would like them to keep playing, but I’m not sure how they can do it now.

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