After Bancroft, Michael Clarke feels that bowlers were aware of ball tampering in Cape Town

Days after Cameron Bancroft hinted that the bowlers were aware of the infamous sandpaper gate saga, former Australian skipper Michael Clarke furthered the idea saying that he will be surprised that if none of the bowlers were aware of some external substance being used to scruff the ball. 

Back in March 2018, Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith and David Warner were the players punished for using sandpaper on the ball.

During an interaction on the Sky Sports Big Sports Breakfast on Monday, Michael Clarke stated that it is hard to believe that the other players within the Australian team were unaware that the ball was tampered with. 

Coming to the infamous scandal which rocked the cricketing world in 2018, Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft was caught on TV applying sandpaper on the ball.

Following Smith and Bancroft’s acceptance at the post day presser, the duo along with David Warner was banned from all forms of cricket. While Smith and Warner were banned for a year, Bancroft had to miss professional cricket for nine months.  

Clarke who led Australia to World Cup glory in 2015 found it difficult to accept the fact that the bowlers were unaware of some external substance being applied on the ball at the top of their run-ups. He stated that at that level, players have a thorough knowledge of the equipment they are using. 

“They’ve got to hold the ball to bowl with it. I can tell you now if you went and grabbed a pen, just a pen and put a little ‘1’ somewhere on my cricket bat; on top of the handle, on the edge of the bat, on the toe of the bat, on the face, under the grip, anywhere, just a little number one, I would have noticed,” Clarke said. 

“If you are playing sport at the highest level you know your tools that good it’s not funny. Can you imagine that ball being thrown back to the bowler and the bowler not knowing about it? Please,” he added. 

The Australian pace attack for that particular Test in Newlands comprised of Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc. Mitchell Marsh was the all-rounder while Nathan Lyon was the lone spinner in the team. Clarke feels that Cricket Australia has a problem on its hand as it tried to bury it under the carpet by not looking into the larger picture. He was also not surprised by Bancroft’s comments. 

“I love how the articles in the paper are ‘it is such a big surprise that Cameron Bancroft has made a …’ Actually if you read his quotes it is not what he did say as what he didn’t say in regards to other people knowing about sandpaper gate,” Clarke said. 

“What’s the surprise? That more than three people knew? I don’t think anybody who has played the game of cricket or knows a little bit about cricket would know that in a team like that, at the highest level, when the ball is such an important part of the game. I don’t think anybody is surprised that more than three people knew about it,” the former skipper concluded.