In an inversion of the line about comedy being tragedy plus time, the comedy of sandpapergate has, over time (has it not even been a week?!), taken on a somewhat tragic undercurrent. Indeed, as Barney Ronay of the Guardian tweeted, “Cricket Australia has achieved the impossible and made me feel sorry for David Warner.” He might have missed an almost in there somewhere, but there was no doubt that pity was the overriding emotion during Steve Smith’s press conference. Cameron Bancroft’s, too.

Who knows if a David Warner press conference would have elicited the same response, but it seems to me that to only communicate his remorse via social media was either a PR own goal or an indication that he might intend to challenge his sentence. Maybe, as my pal Tom suggested, Warner is wrestling with his inner dialogue. Here’s hoping he’s preparing two press conferences – one as the Reverend and one as the Bull.

Let’s get this straight. It is not unreasonable to wholly condemn Smith, Warner and Bancroft and yet still feel sorry for them. Sympathy doesn’t compromise the fact that they cheated and lied about it twice, doesn’t let them off the hook. Equally, condemnation doesn’t prevent them from feeling remorseful, or for the sense that the punishment doesn’t fit the crime. Perhaps the timing of this is a factor. Cricket Australia (and no doubt their sponsors) might want to make sure the bans are enforced during a home summer.

Faf du Plessis must be glad he’s not Australian. True, he didn’t lie to the umpires or in a press conference, but he has been done twice for ball-tampering, first with the zip of his trousers and then with a mint, and only ever been fined. Again, this doesn’t exonerate the Australians, but it might explain why they failed to grasp the gravity of the situation, why, even before we consider their lack of self-awareness and sense of entitlement, they might not have foreseen such a gulf between the sanctions dished out by the ICC and Cricket Australia.

It boils down to the laws of the game being at odds with the spirit of the game, and it’s an age-old problem for cricket. Ball-tampering is no different. There needs to be a meeting in the middle, whether you believe the sanctions should reflect the moral outrage, or the moral outrage should be dialled down to reflect the tacit admission that everyone is ball-tampering and that reverse swing is not something to be hounded out of the game.

This series will of course be remembered for sandpapergate, but it shouldn’t be forgotten that there has been plenty of excellent cricket – much of it involving reverse swing and justifying my decision to purchase a month’s Sky Sports pass on Now TV. Equally, it shouldn’t be forgotten that there are human beings involved in all this. They are allowed to be remorseful and, yes, they are allowed our sympathy as well as our scorn.