Former Proteas captain Faf du Plessis said his team warned broadcaster SuperSport that Australia were tampering with the ball during the 2018 Test series.
He spoke to The Grade Cricketer ahead of the third and deciding Test between the two sides at Newlands. It is Australia’s first Test in Cape Town since the scandal, according to 7NEWS.
“I can tell you we thought that it was happening in the first Test because we were like, ‘This is ridiculous’,” Du Plessis said.
In 2018, Cameron Bancroft was caught with sandpaper in his trousers during the third Test at Newlands. He was using it to rough up one side of the ball.
Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were all banned after the incident.
Du Plessis said the Proteas first wanted to learn how bowlers like Mitchell Starc got so much reverse swing. He said Starc “blew us away” in the first Test.
“Let’s get some binoculars and let’s just see who’s getting the ball at least,” he said of the team’s plan at the time.
He said the players noticed the ball always went to the same player at mid-off. The team then sent a memo to SuperSport before the second Test in Port Elizabeth, now Gqeberha.
“The memo was: follow the ball, just follow the ball, to Super Sport. And that’s what they did,” Du Plessis said.
He said that after tea there was a lot of tape on fingers, and cameras were fixed on one player. He believed someone else may then have been asked to step up.
Du Plessis was himself cited twice for ball tampering during his career. In 2013, he used the zip on his trousers on the ball in Pakistan.
That cost his side five penalty runs. He pleaded guilty and was fined 50 per cent of his match fee.
In 2016, he was cited again for using a mint to put sugar in his saliva to shine the ball. That match was also against Australia.
“I feel for Cameron Bancroft because I went through the exact same thing in my Test career earlier on,” he said.
Smith defended Du Plessis after the mint incident, saying he had done nothing wrong. Du Plessis backed Smith, Warner and Bancroft in 2018 and did so again in the new interview.
“I do want to stand up for the guy. It happened before them all over the world. It was a normal thing that happened in cricket,” he said of Bancroft.
Du Plessis said the scandal changed reverse swing for good. He called it “a line-in-the-sand moment” for players looking at the ball.
He said players were once allowed to bounce the ball on the roughest part of the pitch. Over time, he said, even that stopped.
Since 2018, teams around the world have struggled to get old balls to reverse swing, even in good conditions, 7NEWS reported.
Source: this article is based on reporting by 7NEWS. Image: 7NEWS. Written with the help of AI and published by the Tzaneen Voice Sports desk. See our Editorial Standards.
Tiyani Mathebula writes about sport for Tzaneen Voice. Tiyani covers Bafana Bafana, the Springboks, the Proteas and the PSL, along with athletics, tennis and local club sport. Match reports and previews focus on results, team news, fixtures and what each game means for South African teams and fans.