Australia legend Jason Gillespie has suggested Cam Bancroft was denied another chance in the Test side by the lingering shadow of the sandpaper scandal as the issue roared back to life.
On Saturday morning, it was revealed Bancroft’s former teammate Usman Khawaja had alleged in his soon-to-be-released autobiography the entire team was aware of ball tampering in South Africa in 2018.
His revelations have contradicted Cricket Australia’s official narrative that only Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner had any knowledge of the plot.
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At the expiry of a nine-month ban he was handed by CA for his role in the infamous events at Cape Town, Bancroft was selected for the first two Tests of the 2019 Ashes in England.
After making 44 runs across four innings, he was dropped midway through the series and has not worn his baggy green again, despite figuring as the Sheffield Shield’s most prolific run-scorer across the seven-and-a-half seasons since.
His 25 shield hundreds for Western Australia — the most recent of which came against South Australia in Adelaide last week in a game played concurrently with the national side’s return to Newlands — have him behind only the great Justin Langer, who compiled 29.
Gillespie said the selection of Nic Maddinson for the recent tour of South Africa despite the 34-year-old not having played a shield game in 19 months had only increased his curiosity over Bancroft continually being overlooked.
“If you go on his (Bancroft’s) output at Sheffield Shield level, he should’ve been considered for selection,” Gillespie told the ABC.
Bancroft has been a consistent run-scorer for WA. Credit: Mark Brake/Getty Images
“We don’t know, maybe he was in those conversations, but what didn’t get him over the line? It wasn’t because he was not scoring runs, because he was scoring more runs than anyone else.
“What else was it? Was it a fallout from (the) Sandpaper (incident)? Was it he didn’t fit the environment of the group? I don’t know.
“It all points, I reckon, to just personality, and certain people, whoever’s selecting the teams, favour certain players over the others. That’s how it sounds.”
Meanwhile, Darren Lehmann — who was then Australia’s coach and resigned in the wake of the scandal — and former Test fast bowler Ryan Harris both noted the time which had elapsed between the incident and Khawaja’s revelations, and the circumstances in which they had been raised.
“Eight years after the fact and trying to sell a book’s a bit different, but that’s Usman’s choice and that’s the way he wants to go,” Lehmann told Summer Grandstand.
“Could he have said this at the time? I suppose that’s one of the things in the book, books are there to sell, that’s the case. He’s retired, it is what it is.
Lehmann resigned as Australia’s coach amid the Sandpapergate scandal. Credit: Themba Hadebe/AP
“I haven’t spoken to Usman, to be fair. He hasn’t texted me or rang me. That’s just the way it is, no dramas.”
Harris added: “My first reaction is it’s taken eight years for him to say that. That’s a bit disappointing.”
“That’s probably all I want to say at the moment. Like most people, I’ve been interested to hear the book’s going to say.”
Although he said he had no reason not to believe Khawaja, Lehmann said he did not personally recall him urging the team to take collective responsibility as the scandal unfolded.
“How much everyone knew, that’s an individual, case-by-case basis. You don’t know what’s going on in-depth with that,” he said.
“At the end of the day, Cricket Australia had their findings. It was a really tough two weeks at that time, going through the process and talking to all the relevant parties.
“It drags up some bad, bad memories to be perfectly honest. I myself, and this is just me speaking for me, was in a really dark place for a period of time. For four months, I didn’t leave my house, and I know the three guys that got suspended for 12 months were very similar.
“The Australian cricket team’s in a better place after that and the world game’s in a better place. You don’t see much reverse swing anymore, do you?
“That doesn’t hide the fact we did something wrong and we paid the price for it, and we can just apologise and, hopefully, move on.”
Former England captain Michael Vaughan took to X to sarcastically declare “we finally now know the most hidden secret in the game.”
“No s… Sherlock. Now, can we just move on?” Vaughan posted.
