Cricket's Most Infamous Ball Tampering Scandal: The Full Sandpaper-Gate Story

The Luke Alfred Show

It emerged on day four that the ball-tampering plan had been hatched by senior players in the dressing room at lunchtime on the third day. Smith lost the captaincy and Warner the vice-captaincy, both banned by the ICC for one Test. In Australia, the shame and anger were widespread. Even the Aussie prime minister, Malcolm Turnbull, felt compelled to comment. The tour ploughed headlong into the ground.

As an afterthought, there was some cricket. Morné Morkel, who had missed the second Test, took five second-innings Australian wickets as they were bowled out for 107, losing the Test by 322 runs, so the Proteas went 2–1 up in the series after consecutive wins in Port Elizabeth and Cape Town.

There was something of the public flogging to all this, particularly when Smith – who, subsequent to his ICC banning, was banned for a year by the Australian Cricket Board – broke down in tears at Sydney airport as he, Warner and Bancroft were sent home. Here was an inarticulate young man, full of everyday frailties, trying to make sense of where it had all gone wrong. Watching Smith’s collapse was not pleasant.

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