How Did Fanie de Villiers Expose the Australian Sandpaper Scandal?

(Cameron Bancroft using Sandpaper on the ball during a Test match between Australia and South Africa)

Australia and its cheating scandals have always been fun to watch for cricket fans. Each time, the team comes up with a new plan and it just amazes all the fans out there. One such incident took place in 2018 when Australia was in South Africa for the test series and in the 3rd match, the Australian players made a hefty mistake to win the match at any cost. The Sandpaper Gate proved to be a disaster for the Australian team and the incident is still a dark spot in the history of Australian cricket. But the question that arises here is who broke out the cheating scandal of Australian cricket?

Fanie de Villiers, the man who caught the Australian’s cheating

The South African team has always been a bunch of players who just play their cricket with full passion and aggression. One such man who followed and played for South Africa was Fanie de Villiers who was a fast bowler and he played in the 1990s era for the team. With an experience of 18 test matches along with 83 ODI matches, he knew exactly how fast bowling works in the cricketing world. During the 3rd test match between Australia and South Africa at Cape Town, he was on the commentary team and was constantly sharing his views on the match.

While South Africa was batting in the match, Fanie de Villiers instructed the broadcasting team to keep an eye on the Australian fielders because they were constantly looking to do something with the ball. Moreover, in the previous matches, he saw how the Australian team was able to reverse swing the ball in just the 26th or 27th over of the innings which is highly unlikely to be done naturally. Furthermore, being a grassy field, it was impossible to get the reverse swing so early.

(Fanie de Villiers, the man who caught the Australian’s cheating)

In an interview with RSN Radio, the former South African pacer revealed the story about how his effective tip helped the broadcasters to catch the Australian player, Cameron Bancroft tampering with the ball. However, it took almost an hour for the broadcasters to catch the culprits even after he tipped them off. He further said:

“It’s impossible for the ball to get altered like that on cricket wickets where we knew there was grass on, not a Pakistani wicket where there are cracks every centimetre. We’re talking about a grass-covered wicket where you have to do something else to alter the shape, the roughness of the ball on the one side.

You have to get the one side wetter, and heavier than the other side. Australian teams getting reverse swing before the 30th is over ... they had to do something. If you use a cricket ball and scratch it against a normal iron or steel gate or anything, anything steel on it, it reverses swings immediately.

That’s the kind of extra alteration you need to do. I said earlier on, that if they could get reverse swing in the 26th, 27th, 28th over then they’re doing something different from what everyone else does. We actually said to our cameramen ... go out (and) have a look boys.

They’re using something. They searched for an hour and a half until they saw something and then they started following (Cameron) Bancroft and they actually caught him out at the end.”

When the broadcasters caught Cameron Bancroft on the Cameras, the whole crowd was shocked to see that. Once the over ended, Cameron Bancroft took the ball and cleverly took a yellow tape called “Sandpaper” from his pocket and rubbed it on either side of the ball to alter the condition of it. After that, while fielding at his position, he swiftly took out the “Sandpaper" from his pocket and put it in his underwear to show that he wasn’t carrying anything with him.

(Umpires having a word with Cameron Bancroft about the yellow tape)

Even when umpires confronted Cameron Bancroft, he showed that he was carrying a cloth used to clean the sunglasses, and even the captain of the Australian team, Steve Smith was surprised about what was happening on the field. However, later after the day ended, Cameron Bancroft and Steve Smith admitted to ball tampering in the press conference and it sparked controversy all over the media.

Aftermath of the Sandpaper Incident

With the press conference of Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft admitting that they used a foreign substance to change the condition of the ball, the whole cricketing world was shocked and angry with the Australian cricket team. On the next day, Steve Smith and David Warner stepped down from their position of captain and vice-captain respectively. Australia lost the test match by 322 runs, but there was a wider picture that was waiting for the team now.

Cricket Australia banned Steve Smith and David Warner for 12 months from playing any form of cricket while Cameron Bancroft was banned for 9 months. Moreover, David Warner received a lifetime ban from holding any captaincy position for the Australian team while Steve Smith had a 2-year ban for the same thing. While returning to Australia, all the 3 players had a press conference at the Airport and it was a hard moment for the fans to see them crying.

(Steve Smith and David Warner during their press conference after the ball-tampering scandal)

In the press-conference of Steve Smith, he said

“To all of my teammates, to fans of cricket all over the world and to all Australians who are disappointed and angry. I’m sorry. I take full responsibility … There was a failure of leadership, of my leadership. I’ll do everything I can to make up for my mistake and the damage it’s caused.”

For the Australian team, it was a hard time in their cricketing journey as the two of their best players were banned from International cricket. Tim Paine was handed over the captaincy duties of the Australian team in the test format while Aaron Finch was given the white ball duties.