Vernon Philander will have to face consequences of his tweet, says Cameron Bancroft

Australian opener Cameron Bancroft said that Vernon Philander’s inflammatory tweet on the Steve Smith-Kagiso Rabada incident has given fresh sledging ammunition to the Aussies ahead of the third Test at Cape Town. Earlier, Philander had expressed his views on Twitter saying, ‘Smith gave KG the shoulder’ and he ‘could have avoided any contact’. However, he later retracted the statement claiming that it was a handiwork of hackers.

The Australian opener, who refused to believe those claims, has given hints that the African seamer might well have to deal with the consequences now. Speaking to the reporters, Bancroft said, “If our banter is anything like it has gone this series I’m sure it will be brought up at some stage to get under someone’s nerves.”

“That’s boys being boys playing cricket. Who can hurt someone’s feelings the most. It seems to be a bit that way,” he said, as reported by cricket.com.au.

“We saw the tweet. It was obviously quite popular there for a little while. I can’t really comment. I don’t know if he wrote it or if his account was hacked or not. I can’t really say for him. That’s his opinion, isn’t it, and he’s got to deal with the consequences of that now, not us,” he added.

Meanwhile, Bancroft also gave his insights on the Proteas attack which was termed as one of the best in the world when they played against India. However, there is a good news for South Africa that the ICC has cleared Kagiso Rabada to play for rest of the series.

Bancroft said, “They are all very different bowlers. Vernon Philander doesn’t bowl fast but when the ball is reverse-swinging he’s still difficult to play. I think all of their bowlers are unique in different ways.”

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