Australia and South Africa began their three-Test series in Durban on Friday, renewing a rivalry that has been marked by the Sandpapergate scandal of 2018. The two teams currently occupy the top two spots in the World Test Championship (WTC) standings, with South Africa entering the series as defending champions after beating Australia in the previous cycle’s final.Their first Test in South Africa since the 2018 tour comes with only one player from that controversial Australian trio of Warner, Bancroft, and Smith still in the team: Steve Smith. The scandal saw Smith, then captain, along with David Warner and Cameron Bancroft found guilty of ball-tampering. Smith lost the captaincy and was banned from international and domestic cricket for 12 months. Warner received the same ban and was barred from holding any leadership role in Australian cricket, while Bancroft was banned for nine months. Warner has since retired, and Bancroft is no longer part of Australia’s plans.As the teams begin the series opener at Kingsmead, Alvin Naicker, who was overseeing the live broadcast of the infamous Cape Town Test in March 2018, has recalled how a series of chance events led to the scandal being exposed.
How an ‘absolute fluke’ exposed Sandpapergate
“The way the Australians were caught was an absolute fluke,” Alvin Naicker, who was in charge of SuperSport’s live broadcast from Newlands, told BBC Sport.The plan had been hatched by Australia’s “leadership group” during the lunch break that Saturday. An alert camera operator stayed focused on Bancroft when others might have moved elsewhere, while the person controlling the stadium’s big screen showed footage that was also being broadcast to millions of viewers around the world.“Coverage of rugby and football is very coordinated. It’s camera one and two, then when the ball is dead you tell the story with close-up shots,” explains Naicker, as quoted by BBC.“Because cricket has so much dead time, there is a lot more storytelling. There are between 80 and 100 people coming together and putting the story together in a matter of seconds, coordinated by the director.”Naicker said the 2018 series had begun on a tense note, but the local broadcasters were not specifically looking for signs of cheating by the Australians, despite the incidents during the first two Tests.“No one mentioned anything to me,” says Naicker.He recalled how the camera operator happened to remain focused on Bancroft as the Australian batter handled the ball.“The ball went to the wicketkeeper, then to Bancroft and he was shining the ball,” says Naicker. “First it was on his pants, then the next ball, the cameraman happened to stay on Bancroft because he was not shining the ball on his pants, but he was rubbing the ball on his palm.”“When he threw the ball on, he put his hand in his pocket. The cameraman – and these are big, big lens cameras – he zoomed into his pocket. The slow-mo operator looked at it, spooled it back and forth, then zoomed in and could see the yellow spot.”Bancroft was caught hiding sandpaper in his trousers. Naicker and his team then replayed the footage on the stadium’s big screen.“When Bancroft looked up at the screen and saw it, he removed it and put it in his jocks,” says Naicker. “The cameraman recorded it. It still wasn’t live, we played a replay.”The footage brought the ball-tampering scandal into the open. In the aftermath, Smith broke down in tears during a live television interview and accepted responsibility. However, he was still handed a 12-month ban from international and domestic cricket and removed as captain.Warner was also banned for 12 months and barred from holding any leadership role in Australian cricket. Bancroft received a nine-month ban from international and domestic cricket.