Wisden editor labels Cricket Australia’s ball-tampering findings a ‘whitewash’

The editor of cricket’s most famous book — the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack — has questioned Cricket Australia’s ball-tampering findings, sceptical that only three men were responsible.

Cameron Bancroft was caught tampering with the ball in the Cape Town Test.

The editor of cricket’s most famous annual book — the Wisden Cricketers’ Almanack — has questioned the veracity of Cricket Australia’s ball-tampering findings, sceptical that only three men were responsible.

Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were hit with lengthy suspensions following an investigation by CA head of integrity Iain Roy into the ball-tampering incident, with the trio found to be the only Australians aware of the plan — or a plan in Smith’s case — to cheat the game.

The Almanack’s editor, Lawrence Booth, remains unconvinced by that conclusion.

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“An inquiry by Cricket Australia felt more like a whitewash: there had been no previous tampering, and only three players were involved. Fancy that,” Booth penned in this year’s edition of the Wisden Cricketer’s Almanack , widely considered to be the sport’s bible.

The bans dealt to Smith (12 months), Warner (12 months) and Bancroft (nine months) by CA were far harsher than the punishments the International Cricket Council had served ball-tamperers in the past. For Booth, CA’s reaction was heavy-handed but the result of a history of Australian cricketers claiming the moral high ground.

“The outrage was disproportionate: fiddling with the ball, if not rubbing it with sandpaper, happens. But there was more to it than outrage,” he wrote.

“Australia had been undone by the hubris-nemesis one-two, which has kept playwrights in business since Ancient Greece. With their prattle about the line – where it should be drawn (just beyond whatever the Australians had just done) and by whom (the Australians, naturally) – Smith’s side forfeited the last drop of goodwill.

“This wasn’t just English tittering: many of their compatriots were sick of them too. To cheat so brazenly confirmed a widely held suspicion: Australia believed they were above the law.”

Originally published as Wisden editor labels Cricket Australia’s ball-tampering findings a ‘whitewash’