After the sandpaper-gate controversy rocked Australian cricket, former Australia skipper Tim Paine accused South Africa of ball tampering in the Test match and claimed that the incident was covered up by match broadcasters.The former captain made the shocking revelations in his autobiography "The Paid Price", making him the first athlete to open up about the 2018 Cape Town Test in a tell-all book.
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Any claims that a team meeting was held to discuss Cameron Bancroft's decision to apply sandpaper on the ball during the third Test of the series against South Africa are denied by Paine."I saw it happen in the fourth Test of that series," Paine wrote in his autobiography as quoted by ESPNcricinfo.
"Think about that. After everything that had happened in Cape Town, after all the headlines and bans and carries on. I was standing at the bowlers` end in the next Test when a shot came up on the screen of a South African player at mid-off having a huge crack at the ball," he added.
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And he claims that when replays revealed Bancroft keeping the sandpaper in his pants before being confronted by umpires, he was astounded and his heart plummeted.
"The television director, who had played an active role in catching out Cam, immediately pulled the shot off the screen. We went to the umpires about it, which might seem a bit poor, but we`d been slaughtered and were convinced they'd been up to it since the first Test. But the footage got lost. As it would," Pain further stated.
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David Warner was singled out for criticism by the audience during the series, according to Paine, who felt as though Australia had been "provoked" throughout."I was the one holding them apart and I know how it unfolded. I don't know how (Warner) kept his cool in those situations and on reflection I feel the team let him down by not offering him more support. I can see now he was masking a lot of pain and we should have known it," Paine wrote.
