MELBOURNE: Former Australia spinner Shane Warne on Monday asked what is Cricket Australia doing in terms of men’s cricket and he also hinted towards a possible coverup of Sandpaper Gate.
Warne’s harsh criticism came after his former teammate Justin Langer resigned as the coach of the senior men’s team. Langer was offered a short-term six-month contract extension, but he chose to decline it after having led Australia to T20 World Cup and Ashes triumph.
“We still don’t know the truth about what actually happened at Sandpapergate. Does Cricket Australia know the truth? Do they? Do the same people know the truth about Sandpapergate? Are they hiding anything? We’ve seen that the bowling cartel, as they call themselves, or ‘Winx’ and ‘GOAT’ and all these unbelievable nicknames they have for themselves. These guys wrote a letter saying they had no knowledge of whatever went on,” Warne said on the Follow-On Podcast, as reported by Fox Sports.
“That might be correct. But if it’s not and they’ve done that, there are all sorts of whispers or rumours that we all have heard. And one day the truth will come out. “Does Cricket Australia know the truth? Is it the truth that we’ve heard? Why should Smith and Warner be the only two? Who knows. But the truth will come out,” he added.
In March 2018, Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera trying to change the condition of the ball using sandpaper in a Test match against South Africa in Cape Town. The incident later went on to be labelled as the ‘Sandpaper Gate’ and is considered as one of the darkest moments in the history of Australian cricket.
David Warner and Steve Smith were handed one-year bans from international cricket for their involvement in the scandal.
“If Cricket Australia are hiding something again after Justin Langer, Tim Paine, we could go on about all the controversies that Cricket Australia has just bungled, messed up and handled completely wrong,” said Warne.
“They knew about Tim Paine and still allowed him to captain Australia and swept it under the carpet. When someone found out they just threw him under the bus. What is this organisation doing,” he added.
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