Josh Hazlewood unknowingly acknowledges he knew about the sandpaper being used in 2018

In a funny turn of events, one of Barmy Army members, the fan unit that travels to support the England team in away matches managed to get Australian pacer Josh Hazlewood’s signatures on a poster that read, “I Joshua ‘Joshie’ Hazlewood do solemnly swear that I knew it was sandpaper.”

It is almost certain that Hazlewood didn’t read the poster before signing it as the fans were allowed to get the autographs from the players after a long time since the Covid-19 restrictions were in place for the most part of the last year. 

The Sandpaper gate forced three prime accused members then skipper Steven Smith, vice-captain David Warner and youngster Cameron Bancroft who was caught working the ball with the sandpaper got punished for the act. The act took place during the Cape Town Test match of 2018. 

Earlier this year, Bancroft almost admitted that bowlers, which included Hazlewood with now skipper Pat Cummins and Micthell Srac in the pace trio and Nathan Lyon as the lone spinner. “Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory,” Bancroft had told The Guardian, a UK newspaper. 

In the aftermath of this statement, the Australian bowlers released a joint statement denying their knowledge of sandpaper being used in the game. The statement read, “We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands.”