Cameron Bancroft has reignited debate about the ball-tampering scandal, claiming Australia’s bowlers’ knowledge of the sandpaper plot is “self-explanatory”.
Cricket Australia (CA) and its national men’s side were plunged into crisis in 2018, when broadcast cameras captured Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball before stuffing the evidence down his pants during a Test in Cape Town.
Bancroft was issued a nine-month ban by CA for his role in the incident, while skipper Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were stripped of their leadership titles and given year-long suspensions.
CA’s formal review, conducted by former high-performance boss Pat Howard and former head of integrity Iain Roy, cleared everybody else in the touring party of any wrongdoing or knowledge of the illegal plot.
There has since been no shortage of questions about whether that was the case.
Bancroft, having joined Durham for this county season, revisited the issue during a frank interview with The Guardian.
“All I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part,” Bancroft said, when asked whether Australia’s bowlers knew what he was doing.
“Obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory.”
Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft are set to storm back into the Test team. (Photo by Ashley Vlotman/Gallo Images/Getty Images)
The former Test opener, asked to clarify whether some of Australia’s bowlers knew, replied: “Yeah, look, I think, yeah, I think it’s pretty probably self-explanatory”.
Australia’s first-choice attack of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon played in that infamous match.
“We’re really serious about addressing any unresolved issues and we’re sincere in the way we’re going about that. So if there are any reports or allegations as opposed to innuendo, then we will investigate that thoroughly,” former CA chief executive Kevin Roberts said in 2019.
Smith and Warner have successfully returned to the upper echelon of cricket, each winning an Allan Border medal after their time in exile.
Bancroft, dropped after playing two Ashes Tests in 2019, has not fared as well on the park.
Will Pucovski, Joe Burns, Marcus Harris and even Matthew Wade have recently been selected ahead of Bancroft at the top of Australia’s Test batting order.
“That’s a goal and a door I haven’t shut for myself,” Bancroft said, when asked about a Test recall.
“But it’s also something I’m not mentally stressing about and obsessing about either.”
Bancroft added he “lost control” of his values at Newlands.
“What had become important to me was being liked, being well valued, feeling really important to my teammates,” he said.
“Like I was contributing something by using sandpaper on a cricket ball.”
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
I would suggest that Warner was reacting to Faf getting away with crossing the line ... because he wasn't Australian. Remind me again about who got what bans and where the ball tampering line is drawn?
moaman
Roar Guru
https://www.espncricinfo.com/story/newlands-ball-tampering-cummins-starc-hazlewood-lyon-want-rumour-mongering-and-innuendo-to-stop-1263373
Clear as mud
Guest
Presumably they were asked that in 2018. Presumably that influenced CA's findings and punishments. But agree it would be good to get closure. Warner's manager building anticipation for his client's memoir doesn't help matters at all.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I suppose my biggest worry with cracking down on ball tampering is if they are playing tests with balls that won't swing unless you cross the line in your handling of the balls, then you crack down on that handling, it just leads to more boring cricket. So take away the "need" for ball tampering by giving them balls that will actually give the bowlers something more to work with.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
Righto Chris. Accept you clinging to your point, and to be fair, other notable contributors on these pages support it. I don't. But... it doesn't stop me from admiring and respecting your team, nor the Proteas, nor the great game of Test Cricket.
Ethan
Roar Rookie
2 blokes can come out and put this to bed. If the bowlers are telling the truth, Smith and Warner should just come out and say so. They will know if the bowlers knew or not.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
I don't know about refreshingly honest. It was a throwaway line that paints with a broad brush stroke that didn't really say anything useful. Refreshingly honest would be something like: "Yeah, we had team meetings where everyone was involved and things to talk about how to get batsmen out, and those discussions included how we needed to find a way to get one side of the ball to rough up more so we could get reverse swing. They then tasked Warner and myself with working out some specifics of how we could go about that. So the others didn't specifically know I brought sandpaper onto the field, but they knew we were trying to find some way to rough up the ball". Not, "well it benefits the bowlers, so I think that's a bit self-explanatory". That's a comment from someone who's just shown ever since this happened that he really should just avoid ever saying anything in public, because whenever he does he just puts his foot in his mouth.
Brainstrust
Roar Rookie
Atherton dirt was in England, wasn't the original Faf before the mints in South Africa or was that in Zimbabwe. I would say the weird thing is how no one has been caught with sandpaper before if everyone is supposedly doing it, rather all sorts of weird stuff. Afridi biting the ball that made no sense in terms of no attempt to conceal it, more like him doing something crazy in the moment. Tendulkar was picking at the ball to get rid of grass according to him. Original Faf was him rubbing it on his zipper and second was mints. The one with Pakistan in England it was the umpires looking at the ball they never got caught in the act so much for home town advantage.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
Whilst I agree with your sentiment and acknowledge this is a thing that has happened to varying degrees in all teams, including the Black Caps, Bancroft's comments are refreshingly honest. No-one really knows what exactly happened Chris; that's fair. But to think this thing was as limited as the damage report suggested may be a little naive.
Riccardo
Roar Rookie
Nice story Chris.
Kalva
Roar Rookie
Yes and no....India were set more than 300 in the fourth inns of the last 2 Tests and drew and lost. To me, that says that the batters did their jobs.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Definitely, although I am pretty sure there was one notorious press conference after Faf was caught with the whole mint thing where Warner talked about the line directly with respect to ball tampering. So that specific one came back to bite big time.
Pedro The Fisherman
Roar Rookie
I am not sure that they were actually standing on a pedestal re: ball tampering (but they probably should have been given the likes of DuPlessis etc getting away with indiscretions ... some repeatedly). We were standing on a pedestal talking about on-field behavior in general (and we probably shouldn't have been). The suggestion that they knew where the line was came as a result of criticism for onfield sledging, not ball tampering! CA overreacted to a disappointing situation and have backed themselves (and Australian cricket) into a corner. There is only one way out now ... to build the best team in the world ... again!
Cari
Roar Rookie
Well hopefully we will never find out. Warner is at the tail end of his career lets hope he wraps it up a little better.
clear as mud
Guest
Before Saker: The most likely scenario is that Bancroft thinks others must have known, because someone told him at the time everyone agreed. Or he thinks they must have realised, because he was working hard on the ball - the issue here is that the umpires said the ball appeared unchanged. If he (thinks he) has hard evidence that any bowler knew - notwithstanding their angry denials - either he withheld that at the time, and any bowler misled the Board. Or he told the investigation, and they covered it up. Or they never asked him. All of these would have major ramifications, but it's important that the truth out. Then comes Saker, speaking in riddles, where he might be referring to direct knowledge and involvement, or he might be referring to the culture that he and others allowed to build and led to this action. Conclusion: CA should have Bancroft and Saker providing Stat Decs ASAP and they can be compared against the accounts given in the investigation. Depending on the findings, more people can and must be disciplined, including Bancroft.
Just Nuisance
Roar Rookie
Chris I agree.. I've already posted here that ball tampering is way down the list of threats to the sport..and as you know the relative leniency of ICC sanctions for players found guilty supports that.. They too don't see it as such a big deal.. A one or 2 match suspension and fine as opposed to a potential lifetime ban for match fixing puts it in perspective.... I've been on record for years now tho criticizing what I see as an obscenely inappropriate overreaction by CA to sandpapergate....but I don't agree that CB should have kept his mouth shut when asked the question if the bowlers ..unfortunately I now see reports emerging that CA based on that interview are considering reopening investigations.. Methinks you should be telling them to leave it alone..i certainly will.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Yeah, he was struggling from the very start of the summer, was never right, and the selectors just kept picking him hoping for him to come right. I get why, he's the sort of bowler you definitely want in your side when he's at his best. I really hope he uses this off season to work with some bowling coaches and genuinely work out his technical issues so he can get his rhythm and release right again.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
Every single team tries to come up with ways to push the limits of what you can do with the ball to get it to swing more. I'm sure there aren't many players who haven't just been a bit extra liberal in the application of sunscreen so that when wiping some sweat on the ball to shine it they might get a bit of extra sunscreen in that. Technically that's probably ball tampering. But people are always doing things like that. With the balls they give these players that barely swing or seam, it's no surprise they need to push the limits more and more to get them to do something. Give them better balls and they won't need to resort to tampering!
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
In fact, if anything, cracking down on ball tampering, thus reducing the ability for bowlers to get the ball to swing, is probably more of a threat to the game than ball tampering itself. Maybe if they are going to continually provide balls that barely swing or seam, then players need to be given more powers to work on the ball to get it to move and give the bowlers something more to work with. Instead, with COVID, they've made it even harder by reducing the ability to even shine the ball at all.
Chris Kettlewell
Roar Guru
It's not being honest, it's throwing out some vague thing to try and deflect from himself at a time when he should just be saying "that's in the past, can we just move on". As for who would "know". Certainly everyone in the team would know who the ones were who were working on the ball. They would all know that, like every other team, they are trying everything to push the rules to the limit, and maybe a bit beyond, to try and get the ball to swing more. Doesn't mean they knew the specifics of Bancroft bringing sandpaper onto the field to try and scuff up the ball. Doesn't mean they didn't know all about it, but certainly doesn't mean they did.