Tim Paine Gives The Ball-Tampering Scandal A New Twist By Saying, "The Footage Got Lost"

Tim Paine has turned the tables on South Africa, alleging in a new tell-all autobiography that the Proteas illegitimately changed the state of their ball during the 2018 Cape Town series.

The allegations made in his book, ‘The Price Paid,’ reveal harsh accusations leveled against the Proteas, who are believed to have a responsibility to answer for after the initial blame was assigned to an Australian trio.

To dispel any lingering question that a team meeting was orchestrated with David Warner, Cameron Bancroft, and Steve Smith as the only planners, Paine continues by denying his role in the sandpaper incident.

The wicketkeeper-batsman makes a comment after directly observing an anonymous South African player try to alter the seam. Paine was clearly agitated by what he saw.

In the fourth Test of that series, “I saw it happen,” writes Paine.

“Think about that. After everything that had happened in Cape Town, after all the headlines and bans and carries on.”

“I was standing at the bowlers’ end in the next Test when a shot came up on the screen of a South African player at mid-off having a huge crack at the ball.”

“Ball tampering was common in modern-day cricket”: Tim Paine

The television director, who had actively assisted in catching Cam, quickly removed the image from the screen.

“We went to the umpires about it, which might seem a little poor, but we had been destroyed and believed they were up to it ever from the first Test,” said the team.

“But the video was misplaced. Like it would.”

Tim Paine said that ball-tampering was widespread in contemporary cricket and called it “the sport’s dirty little secret.”

Paine acknowledged that using sandpaper at the “next level” was “shameful,” as traditional methods focused more on throwing the ball into the ground to scuff up the seam’s shape.

Also Read: IND vs PAK: You Can Now Buy Virat Kohli’s Six Off Haris Rauf