Steve Smith & Cameron Bancroft Ball-Tampering Scandal is Nothing New for Team Australia! Sandpaper Gate Adds to List of Controversial Aussie Moments

The cricketing world was in for a rude shock after Australian cricket captain Steve Smith and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft in order to exploit the reverse swing conditions to its fullest hatched a plan to tamper with the cricket ball using a foreign object. The ball-tampering scandal (also called Sandpaper Gate) emerged during the third day of the third Test match of South Africa vs Australia 2018 series at Newlands in Cape Town. The Australian cricket team has had its fair share of controversies on and off the pitch in its illustrious cricketing history which has time and again overshadowed their brilliance in the game. The Aussies are known for their never say die attitude and mental toughness which at times does go over the board. The ongoing cricket series between South Africa and Australia is in the news almost daily for one or the other murky reasons. From Quinton De Kock’s spat with David Warner getting caught on CCTV cameras to the deplorable act of Nathon Lyon throwing the ball at AB De Villiers on getting him run out, it seems the “gentlemen” nature of the game has been done away with in this series.

But of all the talking points in the series, the most heinous of them came to the light yesterday when TV cameras caught Cameron Bancroft tampering with the ball using a sticky yellow tape. Adding to Bancroft’s sheer attempt to cheat his way through it was his attempt to hide the yellow tape from the suspicious on filed umpires feigning ignorance. Match referee then booked the player for ball tampering at the end of days play after the incident was played time and again on the big screen. Captain Steve Smith later confessed to have hatched the plan along with the senior members of the squad to tamper with the ball and apologized for their disgraceful act. But the damage to their reputation and that of the Australian cricket team is immense. The incident has seen former players, fans and journalist absolutely annihilate Steve Smith and his team for cheating and bringing the game to dispute.

Watch Video of How Cameron Bancroft Carried out the Ball-Tampering Scandal!

This is not the first time the Australian team have crossed the line with their antics. We list a few of them when games involving the Aussies were marred by controversies.

1. The Famous Underarm Bowling Incident: When Australian Captain Greg Chappell asked his brother Trevor Chappell to bowl an underarm bowl against New Zealand with the black caps needing six of the last bowl, cricket world saw its greatest act of cowardice and un-sporting behaviour. Batsmen Brian McKechnie defended the bowl and threw his bat in disgust at the absolutely disappointed at the conduct of the opposition team. Though underarm bowling was legal at that time, never in the wildest imagination could one conceive that a team would stoop so low –pun intended-to win a game.

Chappell brothers faced a lot of criticism in the aftermath of the game and led to sharing of cold vibes between the two nations. The incident is still fresh in the memory of fans even after three decades have passed and comes back to haunt the Australian team time and again.

2. The 2008 Monkey Gate Scandal: The second test of the Border-Gavaskar trophy in Sydney saw a war of words between Andrew Symons and Harbhajan Singh escalate into an accusation of racial abuse by all-rounder Andrew Symons on the Indian spinner. The closely contested match was a flashpoint in the series with India threatening to pull out of the tour mid-way after match referee Mike Procter Harbhajan Singh banned him for three test matches. The charges were later downgraded to use of abusive language and the ban subsequently lifted. But it was not enough to bring the two sides to peace as there was an uncanny frost in their relationship for many years after the incident with senior players from both sides accusing each other of woeful handling of the matter.

3. 2017 DRS Controversy and Brain Fade claims by Steve Smith: The second Test of the Border-Gavaskar series in Bangalore saw an interesting technique adopted by Aussie captain Steve Smith who looked towards the dressing room to get cues after he was declared out by the on-field umpires. This enraged the Indian players particularly India skipper Virat Kohli who had a go at Steve Smith. The umpires intervened and asked the Australian captain to leave the field who later claimed it was more of a brain-fade than cheating which many accused him of doing.

4. ComBat by Dennis Lillee: In the first test match of the Ashes series of 1979 in Perth, Dennis Lillee emerged on day two with a bat made of aluminium in what was a clear marketing strategy to promote the manufacturer of the bat who also happened to be Lillee’s good friend-Graeme Monaghan. Australian skipper Greg Chappell livid with the virtual mockery of the game displayed by his teammate asked Dennis Lillee to use a conventional bat. The England players too lead by Ian Botham had the game stopped and the ruckus continued for a good fifteen minutes involving the players and the two on-field umpires. The player finally budged and threw away his aluminium bat in disgust not before his antics brought disrepute to his team.

5. David Warner punches Joe Root: Australian opening batsmen was involved with a late-night brawl in a bar in Birmingham with English batsmen Joe Root which resulted in the former punching the later after Warner perceived Root of impersonating Hashim Amla of South Africa and disrespecting him. Cricket Australia intervened and banned David Warner for two matches and also tried to downplay the incident in order to prevent the Ashes series preparations to be impacted.

These stories remind us of the obvious fault in the design of the Australian Team culture and the constant checks the Cricket Australia and its members have to keep on its team in order to provide such embarrassments in the future.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Mar 25, 2018 01:49 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).