The Australian team found itself in hot water after Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera carrying a foreign object in his trouser while shining the ball during the third Test in Cape Town on Saturday.
In the 43rd over of South Africa’s innings, the umpires asked Bancroft to show what item he put in his pocket after shining the ball as footage was shown of the Aussie batsman acting in a suspicious manner. Bancroft was also shown taking the said object – a small yellow piece – out of his trouser pocket and putting it in his underpants. However, the umpires were shown a different item used to shine the ball, not the yellow object stuffed in Bancroft’s trouser.
Allegations of ball tampering flew thick and fast with Aussie great Shane Warne saying the player has been caught on camera and there is no way out of it. “He has been caught and needs to own up,” Warne said during the tea-break analysis.
The fear in Lehman’s eyes... #balltampering pic.twitter.com/veK9O7spl0
— Jason Knight (@JasonAKnight) March 24, 2018
However, the on-field umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth didn’t change the ball or award five penalty runs to South Africa, which is standard procedure for incidents involving deliberately changing the condition of the ball using a foreign object.
In 2016, South Africa’s current captain Faf du Plessis was found guilty by match referee Andy Pycroft of ‘changing the condition of the ball’ after being caught on camera applying saliva to it with a mint in his mouth during a Test in Hobart against Australia. He was fined 100 per cent of his match fee and given three demerit points.
