BANCROFT SAYS OZ BOWLERS AWARE OF BALL-TAMPERING
London, May 15: Cameron Bancroft, one of the three central figures in the infamous ball-tampering scandal, says it is “self explanatory” that apart from Steven Smith, David Warner and himself, Australian bowlers were also aware of the illegal tactics during the Newlands Test.
Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball in the third Test against South Africa in 2018, a scandal that had rocked Australian and world cricket.
In an interview with The Guardian, asked if some of the bowlers knew what he was doing, Bancroft replied: “Yeah, look, all I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part.
“Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory,” he added.
Asked again if his bowling colleagues had some knowledge of what was happening, he replied: “Uh yeah, look. I think, yeah, I think it’s pretty probably
self-explanatory.”
The Australian bowling attack in the Newlands Test had comprised pacers Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh and spinner Nathan Lyon.
Bancroft said he wanted to be “liked” by his teammates and in turn lost control of his values.
“I invested too much to the point where I lost control of my values. What had become important to me was being liked, being well valued, feeling really important to my teammates, like I was contributing something by using sandpaper on a cricket ball.”