Former England skipper Michael Vaughan says if Cricket Australia keeps doing a piecemeal investigation of the ball-tampering controversy it will keep coming back to bite the governing body.
The ball-tampering controversy has been hogging over headlines for the past couple of days after Cameron Bancroft, who was caught using a piece of yellow sandpaper on the ball in the 2018 Newlands Test against South Africa, recently hinted that more players may have been in the loop about ball-tampering.
Writing for Sydney Morning Herald, former England skipper Michael Vaughan scoffed at the possibility of only three people knowing about the Sandpaper gate plot. He added that some players could have disagreed with it but didn't go against the captain.
“Not many former professionals I have spoken to believe something like that would be confined to just three people. There might be some in a dressing room who may not like it and disagree with a course of action, but say nothing because they do not want to go against the captain. I can see how that happens,” Michael Vaughan wrote for Sydney Morning Herald.
Vaughan said that piecemeal investigation has left many questions unanswered and will keep coming back to bite Cricket Australia.
“Ultimately, this shows what happens if you do a piecemeal investigation and leave questions unanswered. It will keep biting you on the backside and does not do anyone any good,” he wrote.
Micheal Vaughan further stated that CA felt they investigated the matter properly but the damage was done to Australian cricket. He added it is now difficult for Cricket Australia to ban more players in retrospect.
“Cricket Australia probably felt it looked into it properly and hoped everyone would move on. A lot of damage was done to Australian cricket’s reputation and those involved,”
“I felt at the time the bans were too severe, and I can see why Cricket Australia would not want to go back over it. You cannot ban players retrospectively,” he concluded
Australian bowling quartet of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, however, issued a joint statement and clarified that they had no one knowledge about the instance.
(PTI inputs/Sydney Morning Herald inputs)
