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.

"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.”

"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."