Aussie bosses to talk to Bancroft over cheating row
CRICKET Australia has formally contacted Durham star Cameron Bancroft seeking new information about the 2018 sandpaper scandal after an interview with the batsman placed the issue firmly back on the agenda.
Australian cricket was plunged into crisis by the incident in South Africa, which saw Bancroft receive a nine-month ban for tampering with the ball while captain Steve Smith and deputy David Warner were exiled for a year.
Head coach Darren Lehmann also resigned his post but no other team members were found to be complicit during an initial investigation, including the bowlers who would have benefited from the changed condition of the ball.
Speaking to the Guardian over the weekend, Bancroft was asked directly if the bowlers knew about his actions and twice said the answer was “pretty self-explanatory”.
Now CA’s integrity unit have written to him during his overseas stint at Durham, offering him the chance to shed fresh light on the controversy.
Ben Oliver, the executive general manager of national teams, told an online media conference: “We’ve maintained all the way through that if anyone has any new information relating to that incident, we encourage people to come forward and discuss that with Cricket Australia.
“In this case our integrity team have reached out to Cam, extending that invitation to him if he does have any new information... or to remind him if he does have any new information in addition to what his input was into the original investigation, there is an avenue for him to do that.”
Australia great Adam Gilchrist has had his say on the matter via his radio show on SEN in Perth, suggesting fresh names will be implicated in the plot in time.
“I think there’s a few people that have got it stored away and are ready to pull the trigger when the time is right,” he said.
“I think anyone would be naive to think that people weren’t aware of what’s going on about ball maintenance and I don’t think CA wanted to go there.”
Meanwhile, Hampshire have announced the signing of former Durham batsman D’Arcy Short for this summer’s Vitality Blast.
The 30-year-old, who has played eight one-day internationals and 23 Twenty20s for Australia, will be available for the whole of the Hawks’ campaign.
Director of cricket Giles White said: “He is a high-class performer who has consistently shown his ability to score a high volume of runs at the top of the order, both for Australia and in a number of the world’s best T20 competitions.”
Short said: “I am so excited to join a club with as much history as Hampshire Hawks. I can’t wait to get to The Ageas Bowl and hopefully we can have a strong season and win our first title since 2012.”