The 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal, also known as the Sandpaper gate scandal, was a cricket cheating scandal surrounding the Australian national cricket team. In March 2018, during the third Test match against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town, Cameron Bancroft was caught by television cameras trying to rough up one side of the ball with sandpaper to make it swing in flight.
Captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were found to be involved and all three received unprecedented sanctions from Cricket Australia. Although he was found not to have been directly involved, Australia’s coach, Darren Lehmann, announced he would step down from his role following the scandal. Smith was replaced by Tim Paine as captain in all formats before Aaron Finch took over from Paine in ODIs and T20Is.
Warner was found to be responsible for the development of the plan to alter the condition of the ball and instructing Cameron Bancroft on how to do it, including demonstrating the technique to him. He was also found to have failed to prevent the plan being implemented, misled match officials by concealing his knowledge of the plan and not voluntarily reporting his involvement. He received a twelve-month suspension from “all international and domestic cricket” and he “will not be considered for team leadership positions ever again.”
Smith was not found to have known of the plan but failed to take steps to prevent it, told Bancroft to conceal the sandpaper in his trousers, misled match officials and others regarding Bancroft’s attempts to artificially alter the condition of the ball, and made misleading public comments regarding the nature, extent and participants of the plan. He received a twelve-month suspension “from all international and domestic cricket” and he “will not be considered for team leadership positions until a minimum of 12 months after the conclusion of his suspension from international and domestic cricket.
Bancroft was found to be a party to the plan to tamper with the ball, that he carried out Warner’s instructions, tried to conceal the evidence and made statements to mislead match officials and the public. He received a nine-month suspension from “all international and domestic cricket”
Post retirement of David Warner from the test arena, the opening slot for the Australian team is now up for the grabs and the names like Matt Renshaw, Marcus Harris and Cameron Bancroft started making names round the Australian cricketing circuit against the West Indies tour starting around this month end.
Once discarded by the national team, Cameron Bancroft, aged 31 expresses his desire to play for pride and represent the national team one more time in his cricketing career.
I have always tried to learn from the past- Cameron Bancroft
Australian opener Cameron Bancroft insists that he has moved on from the infamous ball-tampering saga during the South African tour of March 2018. The Western Australian batter Cameron Bancroft remains grateful for getting the opportunity to apply those hard-earned lessons in the future.
The right-handed batter was one of the protagonists of the infamous saga as he applied sandpaper to the ball to gain an unfair advantage during the third Test in Newlands. The 31-year-old copped a ban from top-level cricket for nine months, while the-then captain and vice-captain Steve Smith and David Warner, respectively, faced a year each.
Speaking to reporters on Sunday, Cameron Bancroft stated that everyone makes mistakes and that the greatest lesson for him is to take responsibility for one’s actions. As quoted by ESPNcricinfo, he said:
“The past has been a great ground to learn things about myself. I feel like I definitely owe it to my country to put those lessons into play. I’ve always tried to learn from the past and put that into place for the future and be better as a cricketer and as a person,”
“We all make mistakes in the world and I’ve definitely done that in my playing career. It’s pretty obvious that’s been the case for me. One of the lessons I’ve probably learned over the time is to take control of your own actions and responsibilities,” he added.
The right-hander has performed well in the 2023-24 edition of the Sheffield Shield, mustering 512 runs in nine matches at 56.88. He also finished as the top run-getter in the 2022-23 season, aggregating 945 runs in 20 innings at 59.06 and is hopeful that this performance would lead him a place in the National squad.
The Australian cricket team has moved forward – Cameron Bancroft on Australian cricket post 2018
Despite Cameron Bancroft suggesting two years ago that Australian bowlers knew about sandpaper on the ball, the opener trusts that everyone has moved on from it. On this, he stated:
“I still run into those players plenty of times over the last couple of years. I’ve certainly felt nothing but business as usual with how you interact with people. What’s happened in the past has been and gone now. I know those guys feel the same. The Australian cricket team has moved forward, they’ve been really successful,”
“I’ve also moved forward with my cricket and my career also, trying to work on my own game as a cricketer and to work on myself as a human being. They play their cricket in the same brand as well and I feel like it wouldn’t be an issue should I come into the environment,” he concluded.
The West Australian remains in contention to replace David Warner as the opener in the Test team to face the West Indies in their upcoming two-match Test series to be held later this month and it would be interesting to see how he performs post his return on the tour.