Smith's Crew in SA

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In context of Malo's post about the Lindwall era, it's dead easy to think things were more gentile and honest in the past. But in that era pitches were left uncovered, they were frequently watered or otherwise doctored, bats were weighted or corked, you could scrub away at the ball on the pitch, bodyline was legal, etc., etc.. For which any number of rules have since been authored to address those issues.

As an analogy, what would a modern day AFL player think about lining up on Ted Whitten, Kevin "Cowboy" Neale, Captain Blood Jack Dyer or even a more recent Neil Balme! You know, back in the good old days!

Cricket was/is no different!

It's too easy to look at the distant past with rose coloured glasses.

I heard a discussion once were Bill Lawry described a past batsmen of great skill, who when the opportunity arose would jam the cricket ball into his front foot spikes as part of a forward defensive stroke.

But what was done in SA was already illegal i.e. we cheated. The actions from the past you're describing were legal until rules were subsequently changed. Bit of a difference? I'm all for going all out within the rules.