Before I began to recognise questionable behaviour on the field of play, my young and naive mind believed that sport was the pursuit of the honest professional. As in life as well as sport, there has always been and always will be the few that choose to push the boundaries. After all, rules are there to be broken, right? Wrong.

Like every youngster that plays sport, I wanted to be my hero. Thousands, if not millions of aspiring young cricketers wanted to be Steve Smith. That was until Steve Smith ran himself out of the game.

I played cricket in my younger years but being quite a good and accurate bowler does not a cricketer make. The attributes that I lacked were dedication, ambition and focus. I convinced myself that I just wasn’t any good. The truth came to me as I grew older. I gave up. I packed it in. I didn’t want it. I made an easy choice. I chose nights out with friends so instead of net practice, my poison became my passion. Looking back now, I would have made an indispensable village cricketer.

Steve Smith’s debut for Australia saw him as a leg spinner and a batsman that came down the order at number 8. He scored 1 in Australia’s first innings and 12 in the second. An unremarkable start with the bat. Not getting the nod from captain Ricky Ponting to ready himself for a bowl, Smith didn’t turn his arm over during Pakistan’s first innings but took three wickets in their second. A bit better with the ball. It wasn’t a notable debut. As well as the pundits, Smith himself must have realised that he had a lot of work to do on his game. Nobody would have foreseen that eight years later, Smith would become arguably the best (if not the most effective) batsman in the world.

I can only imagine (with envy) the single mindedness, the sacrifice, the deep desire and drive of Steve Smith. After all those hours of hard work, did the resulting mixture of quality and skill require the added ingredient of cheating? Cheating has no place in sport and I’m sure that Smith would agree with me. “Ah look mate, cheating has no place in sport mate”, he’d say. So…

Q. What happened to Smith on the day that cheating was on the agenda?

A. He forgot to eat his Weet-Bix.

Q. What went through his mind when ball tampering was discussed by “the leadership group”?

A. He forgot that he was the leader within the leadership group and handed that title to someone by another name(s).

Q. Did he not engage his conscience alongside his want for a victory?

A. That’s a stupid question. The current crop of Australian cricketers that represent their country do not benefit from the essential character trait of conscience. Next question?

Q. Did he not hear Richie Benaud’s posthumous proclamation of, “Wrong is cheating. A bad idea it is. Stain you it will. Beyond the boundaries of the spirit of the game and fair play it is.”

A. Richie Benaud is not Obi-Wan Kenobi and Steve Smith is no Luke Skywalker.

The best answer would be to say that Smith was embroiled in maelstrom. Whilst he is culpable, this isn’t entirely his fault. His contrition was genuine and moving and I feel a little sorry for him. The fault lies with the laws of a culture whose building bricks were cemented some years ago.

Steve Waugh’s “mental disintegration” tactic was the beginning of a new culture in Australian cricket. Today, sledging has become just as important a part of the Australian game as bowling, batting and fielding. There seem to be no boundaries to the behaviour of Australian cricketers and Smith saw no boundaries when he chose to cheat and by doing so, he brazenly flouted the rules.

Culture is everything. Culture makes us who we are. Culture is language, identity and personality. Culture breeds ideas, provides instruction and drives behaviour. Culture makes the unacceptable acceptable and questionable actions can be argued as being entirely plausible. Culture sets its own rules. Culture bonds people. Culture can be temporary. Culture can last forever. Culture can be your legacy.

As for Smith’s legacy, he may well be remembered as the batsman who for a while could boast the second highest batting average after his countryman Don Bradman. Unfortunately for Smith, he’ll always be remembered as the player who cheated. In a year’s time, Smith will be given an opportunity to begin to redeem himself. During Smith’s self-inflicted hiatus from the game, he might wish to consider working on his leadership skills with the same dedication that saw him as the number one batsman in the world. If Smith is ever given the privilege of captaining again, he may want to begin by laying down his own rules as to what is acceptable on the field of play.

A stain may wash away with time but nobody will forget that it was there.