Amid ball-tampering controversy by Australian cricket team led by Steve Smith during the third Test against South Africa on Saturday, a new video footage from the most recent Ashes series have gone viral on the internet in which Cameron Bancroft can be seen putting sugar in his pocket while the players were getting ready to go on to the ground.
After Steve Smith admitted the charges of ball-tampering, the captain had said that “this is the first time it has happened”. However, the video footage says an entirely different story.
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The video that has gone viral on the internet is from the recently concluded Ashes series’ fifth Test match that was played in Sydney. Smith led Australia had won the tournament by 4-0.
Here is the video:
In the footage of the video, Cameron Bancroft can be seen putting a spoonful of sugar in his pocket just a few minutes before the game was about to start.
After the video had gone viral, various theories had emerged that suggests that Bancroft might have used them to get favourable condition of the balls.
Earlier on Saturday, Australian captain Steve Smith admitted that he was the chief plotter in the ball-tampering scandal that has plunged the game into crisis and sparked a Cricket Australia probe.
The Australian Sports Commission (ASC) has called for Steve Smith and other members of the Australian cricket team who were part of the plan of tampering the ball to step down.
In a press release, the Commission said, “Given the admission by Australian captain Steve Smith, the ASC calls for him to be stood down immediately by Cricket Australia, along with any other members of the team leadership group or coaching staff who had prior awareness of, or involvement in, the plan to tamper with the ball.”
Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull also reacted strongly to the incident, terming it a “shocking disappointment”.
Talking to the reporters, the Prime Minister said, “I have to say that the whole nation which holds those who wear the ‘baggy green’ up on a pedestal about as high as you can get in Australia, certainly higher than any politician that’s for sure, this is a shocking disappointment. It’s wrong and I look forward to Cricket Australia taking decisive action soon.”
