Bancroft responds to Cricket Australia’s call for new information on Sandpapergate
Australia opening batter Cameron Bancroft has responded to Cricket Australia’s (CA) request to talk about his unsavory comments on the Sandpapergate, with new revelations now being made by him about the infamous incident which occurred during the Newlands Test way back in 2018.
CA’s integrity team has contacted the 29-year-old because of his scathing attack hinting that Australia’s bowlers had known about the ball-tampering plot before it actually unfolded. Australia’s daily newspaper The Age, on Tuesday, May 18th has confirmed that Bancroft had responded on a call overnight to CA’s authorities.
Cameron Bancroft confirms there is no twist in the tale
The Western Australia batsman is currently playing county cricket in England and told CA authorities that he did not have any more new information to share on the subject. Bancroft also concluded that he is satisfied with the outcome of the investigation.
After copping a nine-month suspension, the stylish right-hand batter could not go on to cement the opening spot. He was included for the 2019 Ashes tour to England, but he had a mediocre run with the bat after which he was dropped from the squad for the remainder of the series. Interestingly, Bancroft was relatively silent for a long period of time and suddenly out of nowhere, he has given a statement that has irked quite a few former cricketers such as Ian Chappell and Michael Vaughan.
The statement from Bancroft has come at a crucial juncture since it was widely touted that vice-captain Pat Cummins would be the successor to Tim Paine in Tests. If the statement made by the opening batter is true, then Cummins might lose out the captaincy position to someone else. Australia’s loss to India at home during the 2020-21 series has not gone too well with the management, who are now looking for a captaincy change before the all-important Ashes series.
Australia’s next assignment is the white-ball tour to the West Indies in the month of July. Cummins has been included in the squad and his performance will be closely monitored during the series.
Australia’s preliminary squad for the tour of the West Indies: Aaron Finch (c), Ashton Agar, Jason Behrendorff, Alex Carey, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Moises Henriques, Mitchell Marsh, Glenn Maxwell, Riley Meredith, Josh Philippe, Jhye Richardson, Kane Richardson, Tanveer Sangh, D’Arcy Short, Steven Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Mitchell Swepson, Andrew Tye, Matthew Wade, David Warner, Adam Zampa.
