It's not cricket

When I woke up this morning a couple of things really stood in my mind -- this can never happen again. I think that has to be Cricket Australia's focus, this can never, ever happen again in this great game of cricket.

-Former Australia captain Michael Clarke

The public has struggled to love a side that wins ugly, but success and nationalism and tradition have patched the frayed fabric. A conspiracy to cheat, however, has ripped the cloth and major repairs will be needed.

-Peter Lalor, cricket correspondent for The Australian

No other game is so self-conscious in revering noble defeat, nor in insisting how it is played is more important than the result. Cheating in order to win at any price 'just isn't cricket'.

-Catherine McGregor, author of 'An Indian Summer of Cricket'.

Ball-tampering has always been part of the game, so we should be careful not to get too holier-than-thou. But what makes the Australians' behaviour in Cape Town different from other instances, I believe, is the premeditated nature of the crime. Steve Smith and his 'leadership group' sat down at lunch on the third day of the Test and decided that the team's youngest player, Cameron Bancroft, would do the dirty work.

-Former England captain Nasser Hussain

It's very, very difficult to go to a former cricketer and get him to be totally outraged about ball-tampering because it would quickly make people hypocrites. There was a time there where we were all trying to work out how the heck you do this.

-Former New Zealand opener Mark Richardson

It has gone on since the year dot. If the condition of the ball is changed, you get a five-run penalty and change the ball. That hardly sends the message that this is a heinous crime.

-Former England captain Michael Atherton