When talks about the Australia cricket team, the one thing that comes to mind is the on-field banter and sledging that take place. The players were known to be vocal on the field.
When talks about the Australia cricket team, the one thing that comes to mind is the on-field banter and sledging that take place. The players were known to be vocal on the field.
However, post the ball-tampering incident in South Africa, things changed. Former ICC Elite Panel umpire Ian Gould recalled the 2018 sandpaper scandal and said that the Australian team was out of control two-three years before the incident took place.
Gould, who retired last year, spoke about the ball-tampering and told Daily Telegraph: “If you look back on it now, Australia were out of control probably two years, maybe three years, before that, but not in this sense. Maybe - behavioral, chatty, being pretty average people.”
He further added that he did not realise how big the incident would become. “I didn’t realise what the repercussions would be. But when it came into my earpiece I didn’t think the Prime Minister of Australia was going to come tumbling down on these three guys. All I thought was - Jesus, how do I put this out to the guys on the field without making it an overreaction,” he said.
“It was a bit like on Mastermind when the light is on top of you and you’re going - oh dear, how do I talk through this?” he added.
“When the director said, ‘He’s put something down the front of his trousers,’ I started giggling because that didn’t sound quite right. Obviously, what’s come from it is for the betterment of Australian cricket - and cricket generally,” he further said.
“If you saw the balls, you would get it completely wrong. At the end of the day, the sandpaper didn’t get on that ball. They were working to get the ball to be pristine. Once they’d got one size bigger and shinier, that’s when the sandpaper was coming in,” he added.
The ball-tampering incident led to massive backlash all over the world. Skipper Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and fielder Cameron Bancroft were involved. Smith and Warner were given a year-ban for their role in the incident while Bancroft faced a six-month ban.
(Agency inputs)
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 "Steve Smith and David Warner")
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