The 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal has resurfaced with contemporary allegations, eight years after the notorious Sandpaper-gate incident rocked worldwide cricket. Former Australia bowling coach David Saker has reportedly been accused of urging Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to not disclose that sandpaper was used to tamper with the ball throughout the Cape City Check towards South Africa.
The most recent growth follows revelations in former Australian batter Usman Khawaja’s memoir, Sabr, by which he claimed that the ball-tampering operation was not restricted to a handful of gamers and that the whole Australian crew was conscious of the apply. Khawaja additionally questioned why Bancroft, Smith and David Warner had been the one gamers to face sanctions for an incident that, in accordance with him, concerned a wider group inside the dressing room.
A report by the Sydney Morning Herald has now recognized Saker because the unnamed coach repeatedly referenced in Khawaja’s e-book, including one other dimension to the controversy.
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Saker allegedly informed Smith and Bancroft to not point out sandpaper
In line with the report, Saker urged Smith and Bancroft to not reveal the identification of the yellow object taken onto the sector at Newlands throughout their media interplay on the day the scandal got here to mild. The report additional alleged that Saker repeatedly informed the 2 gamers, “you may’t say sandpaper” forward of the notorious press convention.
It was solely after Cricket Australia introduced disciplinary motion towards Smith, Bancroft and Warner that using sandpaper was publicly acknowledged. The report additionally claimed that Smith and Bancroft had been suggested by others to not lie throughout the press convention. Nonetheless, Bancroft maintained that the item was tape when questioned by the media.
Khawaja’s memoir makes contemporary revelations about dressing-room involvement
Though Khawaja didn’t determine Saker by title in Sabr, he referred to an unnamed coach whereas recounting the occasions main as much as the ball-tampering incident. In a single passage, Khawaja described a dialog between Bancroft and a coach throughout the lunch break earlier than the latter was caught utilizing sandpaper.
“With a smile on his face, he stated, ‘Bangers, no matter you are doing, we want extra of it. It is moist on the market – we simply want extra of it’. Then I noticed Bangers decide up a bit of sandpaper and put it in his pocket. The coach gave each me and Cameron a wry smile of satisfaction and walked away,” Khawaja wrote.
The previous Australia opener additionally recalled the coach encouraging the bowling group to search out methods to generate reverse swing, even when it meant taking unconventional measures.
“Guys, I do not care what occurs, however Check cricketers are too good towards the straight ball,” the coach was quoted as saying within the memoir.
“We have to get the ball shifting when it will get previous. I do not care what it’s important to do, or how, however we have to get it shifting within the air. That is the one likelihood we’ve,” the unnamed coach reportedly added.
Saker, who performed a key function in England’s historic Ashes triumph in Australia in 2010-11 as bowling coach, additionally labored with the England crew throughout the 2013, 2023 and 2025-26 Ashes campaigns.
He reportedly signed a non-disclosure settlement with Cricket Australia after leaving the organisation in February 2019.
