Bancroft was seen rubbing the ball with sandpaper in his hand on Day 3 of the Newlands Test.
Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft has made a sensational revelation about the Sandpaper Gate scandal in South Africa, saying the Australian bowlers were also aware of the illegal tampering attempt during the Newlands Test.
In the Newlands Test back in 2018, Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh, and spinner Nathan Lyon were part of the Australian bowling attack against South Africa.
Bancroft was one of the three players alongside David Warner and Steve Smith involved in the infamous ball-tampering scandal in the Cape Town Test in South Africa in 2018. He was spotted scratching the ball with a sandpaper and suspended for 9 months for his role in the ball-tampering scandal.
The 28-year-old has admitted that he was responsible for his own actions but in the national team, there was “awareness” about the illegal tactic, but yet he, Smith, and Warner were only penalized.
Bancroft said in an interview with The Guardian: “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.”
The wicketkeeper lamented that he couldn’t make a better decision at that time. He added, “I guess one thing I learned 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.”
On being asked again if his bowling colleagues had some knowledge of ball-tampering, he replied: “Uh yeah, look. I think, yeah, I think it's pretty probably self-explanatory.”
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The right-hander, who is currently playing for Durham in the English County Championship, revealed he lost control of his values as he was just wanted to be “liked” by his teammates.
Bancroft further explained, “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.”
He signed off by saying, “That's something I don't think I even understood until that mistake happened. But it's part of the journey and a hard lesson I needed to learn.”
(With PTI Inputs)