The Australian bowlers involved in the scandalous 2018 Test match in South Africa have released a statement denying they had any prior knowledge of the plan to use sandpaper on the ball.
Key points:
- Cameron Bancroft made comments that sparked suggestions that Australian bowlers knew he was ball tampering
- Bancroft has since told Cricket Australia that he has no new evidence to present
- The bowlers involved in the match have asked for an end to rumour mongering and innuendo
The open letter comes after comments by former Test batsman Cameron Bancroft in a recent interview which sparked suggestions that the bowlers knew he was ball tampering.
Bancroft, having joined Durham for this county season, spoke about 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.”
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”.
Bancroft has since told Cricket Australia (CA) that he has no new evidence to present.
Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith all received suspensions for their involvement in the incident.
Former Australian captain Michael Clarke on Monday claimed it was obvious that others outside the trio knew about the illegal plot.
Reuters: Philip Brown
)“They’ve got to hold the ball to bowl,” Clarke said on his morning radio program, Big Sports Breakfast.
“If you are playing sport at the highest level you know your tools that good, it’s not funny.
“I love how the articles in the paper are ‘it is such a big surprise’ … what’s the surprise?”
‘It is time to move on,’ letter says
The Australian bowlers who played in the test, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Starc and Nathan Lyon, say they did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until they saw the images on the big screen at the ground.
In a letter, the bowlers ask for an end to the rumour-mongering and innuendo and say that it is time to move on.
The group said they felt they needed to lay out what they say are key facts.
“We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands.”
The group notes that the umpires, who inspected the ball after the TV images captured the ball tampering, did not change the ball involved because there was no sign of damage.
“None of this excuses what happened on the field that day at Newlands. It was wrong and it should never have happened,” they say.
“We respectfully request an end to the rumour-mongering and innuendo. It has gone on too long and it is time to move on.”
CA high-performance boss Ben Oliver, whose predecessor Pat Howard was dispatched to South Africa to help the organisation find answers about the cheating scandal, said on Monday that it had been “a thorough investigation”.
“Our integrity team have reached out to Cam, again extending the invitation to him if he does have any new information,” Oliver told reporters.
ABC/AAP
