Peter Beattie, the chairman of Commonwealth Games organising committee 2018, has said the event had restored Australia’s global reputation (post sandpaper gate),
“This has more than restored Australia’s global reputation. Our sportsmanship on show during the Commonwealth Games is what the essence of Australia is about – fair sport, no cheating and applauding the winners,” he said.
The games just did not help Australia restore the global reputation but also helped the county to forget that incident.
The ‘Sandpaper Gate’ saga took place during the third Test between South Africa and Australia last month. Cameron Bancroft, the Australian opener, used sandpaper to rough one side of the ball to get undue advantage.
He was caught during the act when the incident was televised on the giant screen.
Cricket Australia formed a committee to know the roles of other players as well. In the end, Steven Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were the three players who were found to be involved in the incident. Smith and Warner were banned for one year while Bancroft was handed a ban of nine months.
Along with it, both Smith and Bancroft were banned from captaincy post for 24 months. Warner, the former vice-captain, will never be considered for the job in future. The ban also saw Smith and Warner getting ruled out of IPL.
Bancroft, on the other hand, saw his Somerset deal getting terminated. The ban on players and the saga was a big blow for Australia, but the Commonwealth Games came at the right time.
In fact, Australia also topped the medal tally with a total of 198 medals at the games. The host country won a total of 79 gold, 59 silver and 60 bronze medals. Interestingly, Brandon Starc, the brother of Mitchell Starc – Australia’s leading pacer – also won a medal in the event.
He won a gold medal in the high jump for his country after 24 years.
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