5 Most Controversial Test cricket moments/series

4. South Africa vs Australia, 2018

Australia and controversy are inseparable. This, albeit was the biggest controversy the team has ever been involved in. This was an incident that shook the entire world, that defamed the spirit of the game and defeated the cause of good faith.

 Australia went to South Africa to play a total of 4 Test matches. The first game was easily won by the visitors by 118 runs. The highlight of the game was a small fight between Quinton de Kock and David Warner, for which both the players were fined by the authorities.

The hosts fought back in the second game, winning it comfortably by 6 wickets. But this match saw Kagiso Rabada being suspended for two games on account of poor behaviour on-field which was later revoked. Such was the atmosphere that everyone knew a bigger controversy was just around the corner, and it happened in the third Test match.

The third Test match was played at the Newlands in Cape Town. Chaos struck on the third day when post-lunch, footage of Cameron Bancroft rubbing the ball with a small yellow object started telecasting on the big screen. When Bancroft realised that his little misconduct was being watched, he tried to hide it in his trousers, which was yet again showed on the big screen. The umpires, having taken notice of the entire incident, went to Bancroft and concealed the unidentified object.

Addressing the press later that day, Bancroft accepted trying to alter the conditions of the ball using an adhesive tape. It was only revealed later that the object was sandpaper. In an investigation conducted by Cricket Australia, David Warner, Australia’s then vice-captain admitted coming up with the plan of altering the ball.

Steve Smith, the skipper, admitted having full knowledge of the plan and took full responsibility for the incident. David Warner and Steve Smith were immediately sacked from leadership roles and Tim Paine was appointed as the stand-in captain of the team for the remainder of the Test series.

South Africa managed to win the game by a mammoth margin of 332 runs. What would’ve been their biggest victory against Australia in terms of runs was overshadowed by controversy and scandal. On 28th March, Cricket Australia announced that it had found Smith, Warner and Bancroft breaching article 2.3.5 of Cricket Australia’s Code of Conduct.

Warner and Smith were banned for a period of 12 months and were not to be considered for leadership roles 12 months post their return whereas Bancroft was banned for a period of 9 months. Smith was heavily bashed globally for his behaviour and was coined as a professional cheater as the memories of him contacting the dressing room while making a DRS call in a Test match against India last year were still fresh.

Cricket Australia called Smith, Warner and Bancroft back home and they were replaced with Glenn Maxwell, Matt Renshaw and Joe Burns. The incident was infamously called the sandpaper incident, and is so far, the biggest scandal in cricketing history.