Josh Hazlewood Reveals Build Up To The Ball-Tampering Scandal In Cape Town

Josh Hazlewood has given an insight on what prompted the Australian team to go ahead with the plans to tamper the ball during the Cape Town Test against South Africa. The pacer, currently sidelined due to an injury, said that a win at all costs mentality led Australia to resort to what they eventually did – use sandpaper to shine the ball.

Cameron Bancroft was sensationally caught applying sandpaper on the ball to change its state, and the repercussions soon followed. ICC banned skipper Steven Smith for one match before Cricket Australia dealt with the matter separately.

It banned Smith and his deputy David Warner for a year and handed Bancroft a nine-month ban.

The scandal also brought wholesome changes in Australian cricket. Apart from the trio getting lengthy bans, Darren Lehmann also stepped down as head coach for the same reason. Recently, James Sutherland resigned as Cricket Australia’s chief executive.

“A focus only on results I guess drives people to do different things. And we are only measured on our cricket success,” Hazlewood told the Cricket Unfiltered podcast.

Hazlewood further said new coach Justin Langer is making sure to make the players how they are behaving off the field.

“I don’t think that’s how it is now. I think that’s changed a little bit. JL (Justin Langer) has talked a lot about how we are behaving off the field. And we are going to be measure on that as well which is a good sign,” he said.

Hazlewood added that players weren’t aware of the enormity of the scandal until they woke up the following day.

“We went to bed that night and Australia hadn’t woken up yet, when it hit back in Australia and we woke up it was quite surprising how big a reaction it was,” he told the podcast.