Cricket Australia is reportedly considering resting both Pat Cummins and David Warner from the upcoming tour of the West Indies, amid lingering tensions over the ball-tampering scandal.
The issue hit the headlines again this week, after former Test batsman Cameron Bancroft suggested other players were aware the ball was being tampered with during the Cape Town Test against South Africa in 2018.
Bancroft, Warner, and then-captain Steve Smith were all suspended over the incident.
Warner's manager, James Erskine, poured fuel on the fire this week when he said the three suspended players were "treated despicably" and promising that the "whole truth, and nothing but the truth" will eventually be revealed.
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Warner and Cummins could miss July's West Indies tour, which consists of five T20s and three ODIs. Both players were this week named in a 23-man provisional squad for series.
Cummins' fiancee is expecting their first child, while Warner, who is currently in hotel quarantine after returning from the Indian Premier League, could be granted leave to spend more time with his family.
The pair, who play all three formats of the game for Australia, are expected to be fully occupied during the second half of the year, with possible tours to Sri Lanka and Bangladesh leading into the T20 World Cup and an Ashes defence at home.
The absence of Warner, in particular, would likely take the edge off Erskine's claims, which are unlikely to have been well received in the Australian camp.
Australia's four main bowlers from the Cape Town Test, Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon issued a public statement earlier this week denying any prior knowledge of ball tampering.
"We pride ourselves on our honesty. So it's been disappointing to see that our integrity has been questioned by some journalists and past players in recent days in regard to the Cape Town Test of 2018," they said.
"We have already answered questions many times on this issue, but we feel compelled to put the key facts on the record again:
"We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands."
Former captain Michael Clarke said earlier this week that the bowlers "must have known" what was going on, hammering Cricket Australia for trying to "sweep it under the carpet".
Another former captain, Ian Chappell, told Wide World of Sports he didn't believe Cape Town was an isolated incident.
"Most people would realise that there was more than three people involved," Chappell said.
"And any attempt to tell you it was the first time it happened is wrong, that's glaringly obvious as well."
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