'Of course, they did' - Michael Vaughan on whether Australian bowlers knew the Sandpapergate plot

Opening Batter Cameron Bancroft has shockingly re-opened the infamous Sandpapergate after his recent statements on the same. Bancroft didn’t mince words and hinted that there were quite a few players involved in the incident which took the cricketing fraternity by storm during South Africa vs Australia Test in the year 2018. The cameras were zoomed on Bancroft as he was awkwardly caught using sandpaper to rub the ball.

In the same reference, former England captain and renowned commenter Micheal Vaughan is not bemused by what Bancroft has said and added that indeed the bowlers might have known about it and asked them to ‘move on’ from the episode.

“So the bowlers potentially knew about the ball in Cape Town !!! Of course, they did but surely that episode has been put to bed a long time ago … Let’s move on,” Vaughan said in a Tweet.

Michael Vaughan opens on the situation

So the bowlers potentially knew about the ball in Cape Town !!! Of course they did but surely that episode has been put to bed a long time ago … Let’s move on … #OnOn

— Michael Vaughan (@MichaelVaughan) May 17, 2021

Bancroft spills the beans on the Sandpapergate fiasco

In a recent interview, Bancroft said that the “awareness” of certain players is “self-explanatory” when he was posed with a question if the bowlers knew it beforehand. It has again opened the infamous episode as to whether there might be more players involved than the actual three.

The infamous incident occurred during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands in Cape Town. In a desperate move for a breakthrough, Australia’s leadership group led by David Warner hatched a plan to win the match by using an external object.

There was no swing on offer and Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc Australia’s exponent of reverse swing found it hard to get one. Bancroft was charged with the task to make the plan work, but alas it got flop as the cameraman was seen right in action to catch the footage just in time.

Australia’s winning ability at all cost left the public and fans alike bashing them and raised questions regarding the spirit of the game. It will be a thing to see what will unfold next in Australia Cricket after Bancroft’s statements.