Ball-tampering not systemic, says CA

CRICKET Australia CEO James Sutherland has denied any notion that the Test team has a systemic problem with ball-tampering in the wake of the South African disaster.

Scrutiny continues to be placed on who knew what when the decision was made in the Cape Town dressing room for Cameron Bancroft to tamper with the ball in the third Test.

The blame has been placed squarely on the shoulders of captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Bancroft, who were all flying out of Johannesburg overnight after being banned from the fourth Test.

It’s understood legal issues with the process of banning the players for longer prevented Sutherland from revealing too many details found by CA investigators.

But as critics around the world tried to accuse the Australians of being serial ball-tamperers, Sutherland said immediate investigations in South Africa by officials suggested that was not the case.

“I think the feeling from (head of integrity Iain Roy) from his review is that it’s an isolated incident,” he said.

“But there are things I don’t want to go into too much detail around now. I certainly hope it’s an isolated incident, but it’s certainly one of significant concern.”