Would be naive to think that only three people knew about tampering, reckons Adam Gilchrist

Three years on, the Newlands ball-tampering saga has taken a new twist, thanks to Cameron Bancroft’s revelations. In an interview with The Guardian last week, Bancroft insisted that it was ‘self-explanatory’ that the Aussie bowlers knew about the condition of the ball and the statement has since rocked the world of cricket. Cricket Australia (CA), in their investigation three years ago, concluded that only Bancroft, Smith and Warner were aware of what was going on and hence Bancroft’s statements have come as a shock for the board, who have now revealed that they are ready to reopen the investigation.

Unsurprisingly, journalists and former cricketers have hounded the Australian bowlers but Adam Gilchrist believes that CA are to be blamed equally. Gilchrist, in an interview, claimed that it would be ridiculous to think that more than three people were not aware of the condition of the ball being altered, and criticized CA for conducting a half-baked investigation that didn’t get to the root of the issue. 

"I think anyone would be naïve to think that people weren't aware of what's going on about ball maintenance and I don't think CA wanted to go there," Gilchrist said, reported cricket.com.au.

"They didn't investigate to see if was systemic, had it been going on and on. I think there was an opportunity for CA, if they were going to be so strong and make such a strong statement, that they needed to do a more thorough investigation to try and work out where the root of the problem was.”

None of the active Australian cricketers - or coaching staff - have publicly spoken about the Newlands saga in almost three years, but Gilchrist believes that many might just be waiting for the right time to unleash information. Gilchrist feels that it won’t be surprising to see revelations come out in books, and believes that there will be no end to the blame game. 

"Whether it's someone's book or an ad-hoc interview like that, eventually names will be named. I think there's a few people that have got it stored away and are ready to pull the trigger when the time is right. Pretty much most teams in the world were doing something to alter the ball through that period, in the years leading up to that. It was getting out of control.

"Perhaps no one in the team knew.Perhaps Cam (Bancroft) did grab the sandpaper on his own accord and walked out there and didn't tell anyone about it, but the fall-out from it is going to linger on and on."