Cameron Bancroft could have gotten away without any punishment even after rubbing sandpaper on the ball, had he not panicked while doing so.
It was the inexperience of the player that came into play and saw him getting caught as well.
Alvin Naicker, the head of the production at SuperSport Park, has said that it was only after he (Bancroft) panicked that the camerapersons came to know about something fishy happening on the field,
“We initially just saw that he had something in his hand, and he put it in his pocket, but we didn’t know what it was,” Naicker told Reuters on Monday.
“It was only when he later panicked and put it in his underpants that we got sight of the yellow tape. The moment he tried to dispose of it in his pants, we knew that this was a major incident. Until then, we were not sure what we were looking at,” he added.
The visuals of Bancroft rubbing sandpaper on the ball first got televised on the giant screen.
Australia head coach, Darren Lehmann, spotted the incident and then delivered the message to Peter Handscomb, who was sitting in the dugout.
He ran onto the field to deliver the message to Bancroft. The latter then tried to hide sandpaper in his pants and was then caught on the field. Umpires also took a note of it and talked with the player.
It was after the end of the day’s play when Steven Smith, Australia’s captain, accepted the team planned to tamper the ball.
Bancroft was given the job to change the condition of the ball and was doing on instructions of the team.
Later, ICC banned Steven Smith for one Test match and fined Bancroft for 75% of his match fee.
However, Cricket Australia is likely to take stern action against the players involved in the whole saga. Smith and David Warner- vice-captain – will be flown back to Australia and will not play a part in the fourth Test. An action on Bancroft and players involved is also likely.
The reports have suggested that Smith and Warner could be banned for one year while other players involved could also be handed the same punishment.
Cricket Australia is set to announce the verdict tomorrow (March 28) which will clear the penalties handed to the players involved in this.
The team is also ready to deal with it as many of the players have been kept on standby to be flown in for the fourth and the final Test match.
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