The ball tampering controversy in Cape Town which saw David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft being sanctioned by ICC was a never seen before sight in world cricket. The trio and Australian cricket had to surface a lot of disrespect and disappointment in the process.
Meanwhile, ex-Kiwi cricketer Grant Elliot who was a part of the Kiwi playing XI which played the 2015 World Cup final against Australia has hinted of Australia tampering the ball in the final. This is one of the many accusations against the Australian team which followed the ball tampering scam when it first came into the picture.
On Friday, former New Zealand player Grant Elliott too questioned the Aussie methods in the past in an interview on Kiwi radio show Hauraki Breakfast. “The first question I asked was, ‘well what happened in the World Cup final, were they doing it there?’” Elliott said during the show. “We were in a good position at 150 for three and at that stage you don’t know. You ask these questions.”
Talking about the after-effects of the scandal, especially on a bowler’s psyche, Elliott said, “I’ve played games where the ball has reversed. The thing is, you look at someone like Mitchell Starc who hasn’t really bowled well lately. Now, he might be looking at himself and going — ‘you were doctoring the ball and I was struggling a bit.’”
Elliott, the 39-year-old Kiwi batsman of South African origin, added: “Now the stats will go okay… this is someone’s average before sandpaper gate and this is their average after sandpaper gate. There will be some bowlers that will actually come under the knife a little bit in terms of how good they were and how long they’ve been doctoring the ball for.”
Elliott stressed on the importance of tradition in keeping players on the right track. “Under Steve Waugh and (Ricky) Ponting, there was a lot of talk of the Baggy Green. They had brought that legacy back and guys were always talking about it. Once Ponting finished, you didn’t really hear about the Baggy Green anymore,” Elliott said.
Elliot although offered his sympathies to Steve Smith who was hassled at the airport on his return to Australia and then had to face the Australian media which saw him break down to tears.
