Cameron Bancroft suggests Australian bowlers knew of South African ball tampering

Batsman opens old wounds by appearing to suggest other bowlers knew about what was going on behind the scenes in South Africa.

David Warner, Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith claimed to be the only ones who knew what was going on.

Batsman Cameron Bancroft has opened old wounds by appearing to suggest the Australian bowlers knew about the ball tampering in South Africa.

Bancroft was banned for nine months after being caught using sandpaper on the ball during the Cape Town Test in 2018.

A hastily convened inquiry at the time laid the blame at the feet of David Warner, Steve Smith and the opener.

Warner and Smith were both stripped of their leadership roles — Warner for life and Smith for two years — and banned for 12 months.

People have often speculated on who else was involved.

The umpires examined the ball at the time and concluded there was so little damage it didn’t warrant replacing.

Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft. Picture: Getty

In an interview with Donald McRae of the UK Guardian, Bancroft — who is playing County cricket — appears to indicate the bowlers knew.

Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon bowled in the game.

“At least some of the bowlers, surely, knew what he was doing?” McRae writes that he asked the Australian.

“There is a long pause before Bancroft answers:

“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. I guess one thing I learnt through the journey and being responsible is that’s where the buck stops [with Bancroft himself]. Had I had better awareness I would have made a much better decision.”

“I ask the question again. So some of the bowlers did know?

“Bancroft’s hesitation is even longer. “Uh … yeah, look, I think, yeah, I think it’s pretty probably self-explanatory.”

Hazlewood and the bowlers have always denied any knowledge.

The quick told Fox Cricket in 2018 they were unaware.

“We obviously have ball maintenance people in the team, usually batsmen because they are in the circle and the bowlers field at fine leg. They look after the ball from time to time and if it stops swinging, normally it starts to reverse swing. We pretty much get it at the top of our mark one second before we start running in. We have a quick look to see which side of the ball is more worn than the other,” Hazlewood said.

Other players have always maintained they were as shocked as anybody to see Bancroft with sandpaper and while they knew ball management took place they had never seen a foreign object used.