Famed bowling quartet who made up Australia’s first-choice attack at the controversial Cape Town 2018 Test versus South Africa, responded firmly on Tuesday to allegations of their involvement in the infamous ball-tampering incident.
The four primary members of Australia’s Test match bowling unit had been facing question marks over their integrity amidst media and the wider public since Cameron Bancroft’s hinted at their involvement in the Sandpaper Gate.
During an interview with the Guardian, Bancroft said it’s “self-explanatory” that it wasn’t just him, the then captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner who were aware of the ploy to rub sandpaper on the ball against South Africa.
It immediately brought Cummins, who is deemed by many as the next Australian captain, and his bowling partners under scrutiny, especially with Cricket Australia mentioning that it is willing to reopen the investigation into the whole matter.
However, the quartet on Tuesday made a strong statement, denying any accusation that they were also aware of the mishappening on the field.
Here’s the full text of the joint statement:
To The Australian Public,
We pride ourselves on our honesty. So it’s been disappointing to see that our integrity has been questioned by some journalists and past players in recent days in regard to the Cape Town Test of 2018.
We have already answered questions many times on this issue, but we feel compelled to put the key facts on the record again:
– 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
– And to those who, despite the absence of evidence, insist that ‘we must have known’ about the use of a foreign substance simply because we are bowlers, we say this: The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it 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.
We’ve all learned valuable lessons and we’d like to think the public can see a change for the better in terms of the way we play, the way we behave and respect the game. Our commitment to improving as people and players will continue.
We respectfully request an end to the rumour-mongering and innuendo.
It has gone on too long and it is time to move on.
Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon.
In the aftermath of an incident that rocked Australian cricket from the bottom and led to a thorough investigation and cultural review of the game Down Under, CA banned Smith and Warner for a year and also suspended Bancroft for nine months.
Warner was also barred from captaining Australia for life, while Smith got banned from leadership duty for two years. The great batsman hasn’t been reinstated at the helm despite the end of that period, with Test skipper Tim Paine and white-ball captain Aaron Finch continuing at their posts.
Bancroft’s remarks did threaten to put CA’s own probe under scanner as it had said only Warner, Smith and Bancroft were aware of the Australian tactic. But CA’s interim CEO Nick Hockley told cricket.com.au that the board’s integrity unit did reach Bancroft after his comments, and he had no new evidence to present and back those words with.
