'Of course they did': Vaughan comments on Bancroft's revelations on Sandpaper Gate
Steve Smith and David Warner were handed a one-year ban for their involvement while Bancroft faced a 9-month sanction by Cricket Australia, who conducted an investigation into the incident.
Cameron Bancroft has thrown the debate around Sandpaper Gate wide open after some statements on the incident recently. Bancroft hinted that more players may have been in the loop about ball-tampering during infamous South Africa vs Australia Test in 2018. Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to rub the ball.
Steve Smith and David Warner were handed a one-year ban for their involvement while Bancroft faced a 9-month sanction by Cricket Australia, who conducted an investigation into the incident.
However, in a recent interview, Bancroft said that the "awareness" of certain players is "self-explanatory" when asked if any of the bowlers knew about it. Bancroft's remarks have opened a fresh floodgate of questions as to who all knew about the incident.
Former England skipper Michael Vaughan has also commented on the new revelations, saying that bowlers would have known about it but asked to 'move on' from the episode.
"So the bowlers potentially knew about the ball in Cape Town !!! Of course they did but surely that episode has been put to bed a long time ago ... Let’s move on," Vaughan said in a Tweet.
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."
