How Fanie de Villiers' tip to cameraman caught Cameron Bancroft ball tampering
Cape Town: Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland is to land in South Africa as the ball-tampering, executed by Australia’s Cameron Bancroft, under the go-ahead of the “leadership group”, involving skipper Steve Smith has rocked the cricketing fraternity, drawing some sharp criticism, including demands of coach Darren Lehmann’s sacking and a ban on Smith and his deputy David Warner.
Check out: What's ball-tampering, how is it done and why it's a serious offence in cricket
While the Australian media is coming down heavily on Australia’s “rotten team culture”, it has now emerged that former Proteas pacer-turned-commentator Fanie de Villiers tipped off the cameraman to watch out for possible ball-tampering during the now infamous third South Africa versus Australia Test in Cape Town at Newlands.
‘I said earlier on that if they could get reverse swing in the 26th, 27th, 28th over, then they are doing something different from what everyone else does,’ De Villiers told a South African radio station, as reported by sacricketmag.com, on Monday.
Read: Bancroft might have got away with ball tampering had he not panicked: Broadcaster
De Villiers, who has a good knowledge of the Newlands’ pitch conditions, told the camera as the Australian pacers – Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Pat Cummins began reverse swinging the ball sooner that expected, on a pitch that had a lot of grass.
Read: 5 candidates who may replace Steve Smith as Australia captain post ball-tampering row
“We actually said to our cameramen, “go out (and) have a look, boys. They’re using something”. They searched for an hour and a half until they saw something and then they started following Bancroft and they actually caught him out at the end,” added de Villiers.
Read: Lehmann to be sacked as Aus coach, Smith, Warner face a ban post ball-tampering saga?
“It’s impossible for the ball to get altered like that on cricket wickets where we knew there was grass on, not a Pakistani wicket where there’s cracks every centimetre. We’re talking about a grass-covered wicket where you have to do something else to alter the shape, to alter the roughness of the ball on the one side. You have to get the one side wetter, heavier than the other side,” concluded de Villiers.
