Former England captain Michael Vaughan believes the Poms could exploit in this summer's Ashes the "cracks" still unsettling Australia's Test side as the fall-out of Cape Town continues to fester.
The ball-tampering nightmare of 2018 reignited when former Australian batsman Cameron Bancroft suggested in an interview with The Guardian that the team's bowlers had been aware of the plan to use sandpaper on the ball.
That led to Cricket Australia stating that anyone with new information would be welcome to get in contact, as well as a statement from Australia's bowlers – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – calling for the "rumour-mongering and innuendo to stop".
As England plan to get the Ashes urn back in their hands for the first time since 2015 on their tour of Australia this summer, Vaughan said the lingering fall-out of the ball-tampering drama could give the Poms ammunition.
"Dragging up the ball-tampering scandal has shown there are cracks in the Australia team that England could exploit if they start the Ashes series well later this year," Vaughan wrote in a column for The Telegraph.
"It would only take a poor Australia performance in the first Ashes Test for the pressure to mount.
"The captain, Tim Paine, is under the microscope after defeat by India, and while some think this could galvanise Australia, rarely are such public problems good for a team's unity.
"Joe Root will be enjoying this and thinking it could help. He knows an argument or two in the opposing team is always good."
Bancroft received a nine-month ban for tampering the ball with sandpaper, while then-captain Steve Smith and then-vice-captain David Warner were slapped with 12-month suspensions. Smith was also hit with a two-year leadership ban and Warner a lifetime leadership suspension.
But everyone else – including Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon, then-coach Darren Lehmann and then-bowling coach David Saker – were found not guilty in Cricket Australia's investigation.
Vaughan doubts that Bancroft, Smith and Warner were the only members of the touring party aware of the scheme and lashed Cricket Australia's investigation.
"In my experience, dressing rooms are a small place," Vaughan wrote.
"Not many former professionals I have spoken to believe something like that would be confined to just three people.
"Ultimately, this shows what happens if you do a piecemeal investigation and leave questions unanswered. It will keep biting you on the backside and does not do anyone any good."
Tim Paine, who batted at seven and kept wicket in the third Test of the South African series before being handed the captaincy in an emergency appointment, said every member of the touring party must learn to deal with the continuing story.
"(The bowlers) are frustrated it keeps popping up but, again, that's part and parcel for everyone who played in that Test match," Paine said.
"It's going to keep popping up, and you have to get used to that."
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.