The Australian team had been guilty of misbehaviour from the outset of the tour. Their pre-series request for the stump microphones to be turned down was a sign of what was to come. It can also be reported for the first time that after the ugly scenes of Kingsmead,Smith received a phone call from then chief executive James Sutherland demanding he get his house in order.
History tells us that did not happen and,as has been shown this week,the reverberations of what took place two matches later at Newlands are still being felt.
The scandal hit the headlines again this week after aninterview Bancroft gave toThe Guardian. Bancroft indicated more players knew about the sandpaper plot than the three batsmen.
“Yeah,obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that,probably,is self-explanatory,” he said.
The four Australian bowlers who played in the notorious Test – Mitchell Starc,Josh Hazlewood,Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon – were unimpressed. Theyreleased a statement independent of CA in which they strongly denied knowing about any foreign substance at Newlands.
Not for the first time,Bancroft’s remarks appear to have a bit of deer-in-the-headlights about them rather than a deliberate breaking of some oath ofomerta. They have,however,set off a new discussion about whether the Cape Town triowore too much of the blame on their own and whether CA should have gone beyond ring-fencing the cheating controversy around them.
It may never be proved who else,if anyone,knew about sandpaper being brought on the field – Smith hasn’t even specifically said he did,only that he “walked past” Warner and Bancroft conspiring in the dressing-room. But the question being asked now,as it was then,is more whether there should have been collective responsibility?
Setting aside individuals’ knowledge of the Newlands incident itself,there is a belief from at least two members of the squad that there should have been wider accountability among players and coaches. The argument is that Australia,like other teams in world cricket,had been pushing the boundaries in the dark arts of “ball management”,desperate to gain any advantage they could,and Cape Town was simply the point where it tipped over the edge.
The team’s bowling coach at the time,David Saker,alluded to it this week without actually saying it,conceding the Newlands implosion“could have been stopped and it wasn’t”.
CA is also again under the gun for what Warner’s agent James Erskine labelsa “joke” of a ball-tampering investigation in Cape Town. It was conducted over 48 hours in the room of CA’s head of integrity,Iain Roy,at the Southern Sun Cullinan Hotel. There were two ICC officials present as 10 players of the 15 players on tour put their testimony on tape – six staff were also interviewed – and sanctions were promptly announced ahead of the fourth Test in Johannesburg.
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While standing by the outcome,at least one Australian official speaking on the condition of anonymity admits now that in hindsight it might have been better if Smith,Bancroft and Warner were ruled out of that final match of the series (Smith was already suspended from it by the ICC) and a more wide-ranging probe into the team’s activities with the ball was conducted when they returned home.
However,the official recalls the atmosphere at the time,with public shock and outrage,sponsors venting their rage and thenprime minister Malcolm Turnbull calling Peever and demanding “decisive action” from CA. The game was also deep in talks for a new television deal.
Other decision makers from the time maintain the external pressure was not a factor in the speed of the investigation and the severity of the penalties and refute accusations that the inquiry was not thorough.
What is certain is this is not the last we will hear of Cape Town. There will be players’ books to come,which will send the whole thing into overdrive again.
In the meantime those still in the Australian team will have to put any lingering resentment about one another or with CA to one side. If only Australia had quit the tour in Port Elizabeth after all.
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