The prime perpetrator of the infamous under-arm incident, Trevor Chappell, warned Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft about the repercussions of their actions at Cape Town.
With six required of the final delivery, Trevor was asked by his captain and brother, Greg Chappell to bowl an underarm delivery, which denied a victory to the Kiwis back in the World Series of 1981.
Following the infamous incident, Trevor had a difficult time to cope up with the vilification for bringing disgrace to the game, even year post the episode.
“I thought it was a good idea to underarm bowl at the time but not these days. Also, struggled a lot with it mentally. In fact, I was vilified for years and people will still ask about it,” Trevor Chappell told the Daily Telegraph.
Further, one part of the Chappell quartet in the Australian team revealed the incident also affected his personal life, as his marriage broke down.
“My marriage broke down and I never remarried or had kids. These days all I do is coach cricket to kids and play golf,” revealed Chappell.
What I did has lived with me ever since: Trevor Chappell
That said, the 65-year old reckons the ‘Sandpaper Gate’ will forever haunt Cameron Bancroft and Steven Smith for the rest of their lives.
“They’ll have to live with what they’ve done forever. Whether it haunts them for the rest of their lives is down to them but I haven’t been able to shake off what happened to me in 37 years,” stated the co-author of Wild New Zealand.
Trevor warns Smith and Bancroft for being tagged as ones bringing disgrace to the game till they take their last breath.
“What I did has lived with me ever since and it will be the same for Smith and Bancroft. They will struggle for the rest of their lives and be known as the ones who brought Australian cricket into disrepute,” affirmed 65-year old.
However, in conclusion, Trevor disclosed that he could finally take a sigh of relief since would not be the one on top when someone looks up Australia cricket’s darkest day.
“I’m the one who comes up on Google as the man who took the lead role in Australian cricket’s darkest day — it’s a real relief I can finally drop that title,” concluded Trevor Chappell.
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