CA open to probe 2018 ball-tampering scandal after Bancroft’s claims

Cricket Australia on Sunday said it was open to examining any new information regarding the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that rocked the cricketing world, reported AFP. The statement came after bowler Cameron Bancroft, who was caught using sandpaper on a ball, suggested that the team’s bowlers were aware it was going on.

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“Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory,” the bowler told The Guardian on being asked if his teammates knew.

Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Marsh and Nathan Lyon bowled in the 2018 Test match against South Africa and all of them remain involved in the Australian set-up.

On day three of the third Test, Bancroft was caught on camera using the sandpaper, before he slid it inside the trousers after he realised he was caught. He was banned for nine months.

Then-captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner were suspended for a year from all cricket and stripped of their leadership roles for their part in an incident that rocked Australian cricket.

Coach Darren Lehmann also stepped down from his position.

In a statement on Sunday, Cricket Australia said that it has maintained 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.”

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“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,” it added.