Former Australian cricketer Dean Jones lashed out at Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft for their latest bombshell statements on the ball-tampering scandal, saying the two are trying to “gather sympathy”.
While Bancroft has painted David Warner in a poor light by calling him a mastermind of the infamous scandal, Smith blamed Cricket Australia’s (CA) “win at all cost” culture for the South Africa disgrace.
Believing that Smith and Bancroft should have kept quiet and served their bans, as they would be return to the Australian folds once their bans completed in March 2019, Jones further went on to opine that those interviews given by two would be only adding more fuel to the fire.
The commentator said that always reminded Australia have cheated, which the public don’t really want to hear anymore, but unfortunately, it is like a huge tattoo on the country’s foreheads, which they can never erase and he is really disappointed with these interviews.
Jones wrote for ‘The Age’ newspaper on Friday, “These interviews are almost as bad as the fine grade of sandpaper the players used to scratch the ball. Why am I so upset with these interviews? Everywhere Australian players go around the world, we are always reminded that we have cheated. It feels like we have a huge tattoo on our foreheads that we cannot erase. These three boys were old enough to make the right decisions. Sadly, they have to pay for their consequences, as do we.”
The 57-year-old continued, “What were they thinking? Who advised Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to do those interviews with Fox Cricket? All this has done is add more fuel to a fire that the majority of the public don’t really want to hear about anymore.”
Meanwhile, Jones urged Warner to not add more fuel to the fire by asking him avoid Smith and Bancroft’s explosive interviews against him, saying that would only make it worse and make difficult for the trio to play together for their country in the coming days.
He further stated on the same, “…the Bancroft interview with Adam Gilchrist seems like the junior opener wanted to throw Warner under the bus…He definitely got the jump on Warner and it seemed like payback in full. How could these two guys open the batting together again?”
Jones signed off by saying, “Now I hear he (Warner) is considering doing a television interview in reaction to Bancroft’s comments, which have painted him in a poor light. I feel that would be the worst thing Warner could do. Well they have made another bad judgment. The public just wants you to do the right thing. If you are not good enough, then you are not good enough. They didn’t have to resort to cheating.”
(With The Age Inputs)
