From Homeworkgate to Sandpapergate

No sledges or punches this time, but plenty of tension and ill-will nonetheless.

In an unprecedented decision, Australia axed four players from a Test during the 2012-13 tour of India for 'breach of protocol'. Vice-captain Shane Watson, Mitchell Johnson, Usman Khawaja and James Pattinson were all dropped for the third Test in Mohali for neglecting a self-improvement task assigned to the players by coach Mickey Arthur after a disastrous start to the Test series.

Arthur later revealed that the move had been a culmination of "lots of minor indiscretions" like late attendance for team meetings, wearing the wrong attire, and backchat.

A few England players were celebrating a win at a Birmingham bar during the 2013 Champions Trophy when David Warner, allegedly losing his cool over a gesture from Joe Root, struck him with a glancing blow. The ECB later said Warner had initiated the altercation, and called it "an unprovoked physical attack."

Although he offered a public apology, Warner was suspended for the rest of the Champions Trophy and the first two Tests of the 2013 Ashes. The saga indirectly also led to the sacking of coach Mickey Arthur, who was replaced by Darren Lehmann.

Who'd have thought a sledge would become the talking point of an Ashes series? The incident occurred during the 2013-14 Ashes, in the final stages of Australia's victory in Brisbane, when the stump mic picked up captain Michael Clarke asking England tailender James Anderson to "get ready for a broken f***ing arm" during a heated discussion.

Clarke was subsequently fined 20% of his match fee for a breach of the ICC Code of Conduct, although some reports suggested he had only stood up for team-mate George Bailey whom Anderson had allegedly threatened to punch in the face.

Warner was at the centre of yet another controversy, when CCTV footage released by a South African media outlet showed an altercation between him and Quinton de Kock on the staircase leading to the dressing rooms during the first Test of Australia's tour of South Africa earlier this year. As fresh footage appeared, it emerged that Warner had reacted furiously to a remark by the South Africa keeper, and needed to be dragged away by his team-mates. Reports did the rounds that Warner's anger was provoked by derogatory remarks about his wife.

It ultimately resulted in both players being fined by the ICC for bringing the game into disrepute. While the incident prompted discussions about Australia's infamous "line", no one could have guessed what would happen later in the same tour.

Incident followed incident as Australia's tour of South Africa wore on. There was Nathan Lyon's ball drop. Kagiso Rabada was banned, then unbanned. All that, however, would pale into insignificance at Newlands, when Australia opener Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera, seemingly working on the ball with a foreign object - which was later revealed to be a strip of sandpaper. Captain Steven Smith came out at the end of the day and admitted that the team's "leadership group" had planned to tamper with the ball. What was this leadership group, and who all were involved exactly? Cricket Australia conducted an investigation, and rolled out the sanctions: Smith and vice-captain Warner received 12-month bans, and Bancroft one for nine months. Coach Lehmann resigned at the conclusion of the Test series, after five years at the helm.

At a time when Australia were digging deep into their cultural values post the ball-tampering scandal, England spinner Moeen Ali intensified the focus on their bad behaviour by claiming that he was subjected to a racial taunt during the 2015 Ashes series. Moeen wrote in his autobiography that an Australian player had called him "Osama" during the first Test of the series in Cardiff, and that he had informed the England coach Trevor Bayliss, who had then raised the matter with Australia's then-coach Lehmann. The player involved had denied the allegation, claiming he had only called Moeen a "part-timer".

A Cricket Australia investigation found no evidence to support Moeen's claims, and no action was taken against the player.