Sandpaper Gate: Cricket Australia's Integrity team reaches out to Cameron Bancroft

By Vishesh Roy
New Delhi [India], May 17 : Ever since Cameron Bancroft revealed that more than three people would have knowledge about the Sandpaper Gate, the fiasco has once again become a talking point in the cricketing world. Now, Cricket Australia's (CA) Integrity team has reached out to the right-handed batsman to see if he has more information to give on the issue.
Sources within Cricket Australia confirmed to ANI that the Integrity Team has indeed reached out to Bancroft and currently they are waiting to hear from him.
"The Integrity team has reached out to Cameron Bancroft today to see if he has some new information on the issue. We are waiting for a reply from his side. He is in the UK currently so it's still pretty early there," the source said.
Bancroft, who is playing county cricket in Durham, said it was 'probably self-explanatory' whether the bowlers were aware that the ball was being tampered with.
"Yeah, look, all I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part. Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory," Bancroft said to the Guardian interviewer Donald McRae as reported by ESPNcricinfo.
"I guess one thing I learnt through the journey and being responsible is that's where the buck stops [with Bancroft himself]. Had I had better awareness I would have made a much better decision," he added.
When he was further stressed, Bancroft replied: "Uh... yeah, look, I think, yeah, I think it's pretty probably self-explanatory."
Last week, Cricket Australia spokesperson had said that the board is open to reinvestigating the issue if there is some new information.
"CA has maintained all along that if anyone is in possession of new information in regards to the Cape Town Test of 2018, they should come forward and present it. The investigation conducted at the time was detailed and comprehensive. Since then, no one has presented new information to CA that casts doubt on the investigation's findings," ESPNcricinfo quoted CA spokesperson as saying.
In March 2018, Bancroft was caught on camera trying to change the condition of the ball using sandpaper in a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town. The incident later went on to be labelled as the 'Sandpaper Gate' and is considered as one of the darkest moments in the history of Australian cricket.
On the third day of the match, Bancroft was caught on camera trying to alter the condition of the ball. As soon as the clip was shown on television, it went viral on social media and the entire cricketing fraternity condemned the act.
After the conclusion of the day's play, Bancroft and then Australia skipper Steve Smith admitted that they did tamper with the ball. David Warner's involvement in the act was also confirmed. Australia went on to lose the match and Cricket Australia took some bold calls as they first removed Smith and Warner as the captain and vice-captain of the side.
Later, the Australian cricket board handed a one-year ban to both Smith and Warner, while Bancroft was given a nine-month suspension. Australia coach Darren Lehmann also resigned after the episode.