Cape Town, March 24: Opener Cameron Bancroft on Saturday (March 24) put Australia in the middle of a ball tampering controversy during the third Test against Australia here.
During the second session of the third day's play, umpires approached Bancroft to know about the object with which he was scrubbing the ball. The TV cameras too caught the action and South Africa captain Faf du Plessis gestured the same to his on-field colleagues - Aiden Markram and AB de Villiers.
Can we talk about this? pic.twitter.com/cmpRrOArgD
— Dale Steyn (@DaleSteyn62) March 24, 2018
#SandpaperGate is going to be a monster.
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 24, 2018
My 2cents worth - This will be Darren Lehmann’s greatest test as a coach, cos I will struggle to believe that this was all Bancroft’s idea. #SandpaperGate.
— Kevin Pietersen (@KP24) March 24, 2018
After a short conflab, on field umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth cooled the episode down without imposing any immediate penalty - the statutory five runs on the fielding side for trying to reshape the ball illegally. Perhaps, more developments are on our way soon.
Earlier, the footage showed Bancroft seemingly rubbing the rough side of the ball, the opposite side to which a fielder would usually be trying to shine on his trousers - permitted under the ICC playing conditions.