Could there be a better time of year than this for the Australian cricket team to decide to crucify themselves, their careers, their reputations and the good name of the entire game, if not of our entire sports-loving nation, on a willow cross of their own making?

Easter is traditionally a time of redemption, and perhaps it was with that in mind that the captain of our ball-tampering team, Steve Smith, assumed ‘all would be forgiven’ if he simply owned up to having done wrong, promised it was a ‘one-off’, and then declared such a grievous sin would never again occur...