The issue was put under the spotlight again when Cameron Bancroft last week revealed that Australian bowlers in the team at that time might have had some knowledge about the plot.
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Australia opening batter Cameron Bancroft has responded to Cricket Australia’s (CA) request to talk about his unsavoury comments on the Sandpaper gate. He made some new revelations about the infamous incident which occurred during the Newlands Test in 2018.
CA’s integrity team has contacted the 29-year-old because of him hinting that Australia’s bowlers had known about the ball-tampering plot before it actually unfolded.
A report in The Age said Cameron Bancroft responded on a call overnight to CA’s authorities. However, he said he has nothing new to add.
The Western Australia batsman is currently playing county cricket in England. In the call, he told CA that he did not have any newer information to share on the subject. Bancroft also concluded that he is satisfied with the outcome of the investigation.
Bancroft was banned for nine months for his role in the Cape Town saga that plunged Australian cricket into crisis. Steve Smith and David Warner each received year-long suspensions.
After copping a nine-month suspension, the stylish right-hand batter could not go on to cement the opening spot. He was included for the 2019 Ashes tour to England.
However, a mediocre run with the bat saw him dropped from the squad for the remainder of the series.
Speaking to the Guardian over the weekend, Bancroft was asked directly if the bowlers knew about his actions. He said that was “pretty self- explanatory”.
Stuart Broad, whose own rivalry with Australia runs long and deep, was asked about the latest developments by PA during the launch of Lifebuoy’s partnership with the Chance to Shine charity.
And he made it clear elite bowlers were highly unlikely to miss significant alterations to the tool of their trade.
“In an England Test team, if I miss the seam by four millimetres, Jimmy Anderson’s on me…’why has this ball got a mark on it here; it’s because you’ve missed the seam: start hitting the seam, will you’,” Broad said.
Michael Clarke the former Australian Captain, telling Sky Sports Radio: “What’s the surprise, that more than three people knew?”
“If you’d played the game of cricket, you would know more than three people know what was going on in there.”
“The problem Cricket Australia has is the fact they’ve tried to sweep it under the carpet and not come out and tell the full story.”
