Brain fade? Oz skipper admits to ball tampering
FOUL PLAY Australia’s Cameron Bancroft is caught on TV, skipper says he was executing team management’s plan
The Australian cricket team was plunged into disarray after fielder Cameron Bancroft was caught on TV tampering with ball.
CAPE TOWN: Controversy descended on the Newlands Test after Australia’s Cameron Bancroft was caught on TV tampering with the ball in the third Test against South Africa on Saturday.
Australia captain Steve Smith then made a stunning confession that his side deliberately tried to change the condition of the ball on the third day in an attempt to gain an advantage on the game the visiting side is fighting to save.
Opening batsman Bancroft has been charged by the International Cricket Council (ICC) over ball-tampering after TV cameras caught him rubbing the ball with what appeared to be a tape.
Smith told reporters at the end of the day’s play that it was a deliberate plan from the “leadership group” of the side, but added he would not step down as captain.
“The leadership group knew about it, we spoke about it at lunch,” Smith told a news conference.
“I am not proud of what has happened. It’s not in the spirit of the game, my integrity and the integrity of the team has been damaged and rightfully so. It’s not on and it won’t happen again, I can promise you.”
Smith’s leadership will come under further scrutiny, after his ‘brain fade’ during last year’s Bangalore Test – when he sought dressing room help to seek a review after being given out. Umpire Nigel Llong also officiated that Test.
Bancroft – the 25-year-old opener is playing only in his eighth Test -- was spoken to by the umpires on the field regarding an object that TV footage appeared to show him take out of his pocket before shining the ball.
He was then shown putting the object down the front of his trousers before speaking to Llong and Richard Illingworth. Bancroft turned out his pockets and showed the umpires a black piece of cloth and play continued.
Bancroft was caught holding a small yellow object which he later said was the piece of sticky tape. He said he tried to pick up rough granules from the side of the pitch with the tape and rub it on the ball to try and change its condition.
He said: “Having done that I panicked quite a lot and that obviously resulted in me shoving it down my trousers.”
South Africa opened up a potentially match-winning lead on Day Three, closing on 238 for five in their second innings to extend their advantage to 294 runs. The game receded into the background as former players slammed Bancroft for tampering. Shane Warne tweeted he was “disappointed” to see the TV images and urged Smith and Lehmann to come clean. Tampering is the latest incident in a Test series strewn with controversies.
Brief scores: South Africa 311 & 238/5 (A Markram 84, AB de Villiers 51*, P Cummins 2/47); Australia 255 (K Rabada 4/91, M Morkel 4/87).
I saw an opportunity to get some tape and granules from the wicket and try to change ball condition... I was sighted on the screens and I panicked quite a lot, that resulted in me shoving it down my trousers. CAMERON BANCROFT, Australia batsman after the tampering incident