The Australian batsman at the forefront of the infamous ball-tampering scandal has made a shocking revelation three years on, revealing the bowlers and rest of the team knew what was happening all along.
Bancroft was caught on camera trying to hide a piece of sandpaper he was using to rough up the ball during a Test with South Africa in Cape Town in 2018.
At the time, it was said he had been instructed to do so by then-vice captain David Warner, and the only other person with knowledge of what was going on was captain Steve Smith, who decided to turn a blind eye.
But speaking to The Guardian while playing county cricket in the UK, Bancroft has revealed knowledge of the ball-tampering was more widespread among the side.
“All I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part. Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory."
Asked whether that meant the bowlers knew exactly what was going on, Bancroft hesitated, before uncomfortably responding.
“Uh … yeah, look, I think, yeah, I think it’s pretty probably self-explanatory.”
At the time, the bowlers, including Mitchell Starc, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, were reportedly furious that there was belief they had any knowledge of what Bancroft was doing.
The incident became the darkest day in Australian cricket, if not Australian sport, and the players involved received hefty bans from Cricket Australia, while coach Darren Lehmann also resigned.
Bancroft was banned for nine months and has only played two Tests since the Cape Town incident, both during the 2019 Ashes in England.
Smith and Warner lost their leadership positions and were banned for a year. Smith has been earmarked as potentially regaining the captaincy from current skipper Tim Paine following the Ashes series in Australia next summer.
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