Sandpapergate Twist: Ex-Aus Coach Accused Of Telling Smith, Bancroft To Lie
A fresh detail about the 2018 Sandpapergate controversy has emerged, with former Australian bowling coach David Saker being accused of asking Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to lie during a press conference in South Africa about the use of sandpaper. Eight years after one of Australian cricket's most infamous incidents, Usman Khawaja claimed in his memoir Sabr that the entire Australian team knew about the ball-tampering attempts and argued that Bancroft, Smith and David Warner should not have been punished alone.
Now, a report in the Sydney Morning Herald has claimed that the coach Khawaja repeatedly referred to in the scandal was then bowling coach David Saker.
The newspaper reported that Saker "urged Smith and Bancroft not to reveal the nature of the yellow object that had been taken onto the field at Newlands at their media conference after play on the day the scandal broke."
It also alleged that Saker repeatedly told Bancroft and Smith, "you can't say sandpaper," before the infamous press conference on the day the scandal broke.
The report further claimed: "Bancroft and Smith were advised by others not to lie, but Bancroft told reporters soon after that it had been tape, not sandpaper, in his possession and that he had been utilising it to lift granules from the pitch to rub on one side of the ball. It wasn't until Cricket Australia announced sanctions against Smith, Bancroft and David Warner that it was publicly admitted he had actually had sandpaper in his hand."
However, there is no mention of Saker's name in Khawaja's memoir, though there are references to an unnamed coach. One of those references includes a conversation between Bancroft and a coach during the lunch break before Bancroft was caught.
"With a smile on his face, he said, 'Bangers, whatever you're doing, we need more of it. It's wet out there. We just need more of it.' Then I saw Bangers pick up a piece of sandpaper and put it in his pocket. The coach gave both me and Cameron a wry smile of satisfaction and walked away," Khawaja wrote.
Khawaja also wrote about the coach telling the bowlers to take whatever measures were needed to manufacture reverse swing.
"Guys, I don't care what happens, but Test cricketers are too good against the straight ball," the unnamed coach said, according to Khawaja.
"We need to get the ball shifting when it gets old. I don't care what you have to do, or how, but we need to get it moving in the air. That's the only chance we have," he added.
Saker, who helped mastermind England's drought-breaking Ashes victory in Australia in 2010-11 and was also England's bowling coach for the 2013, 2023 and 2025-26 Ashes series, had reportedly signed a non-disclosure agreement with Cricket Australia after leaving the organisation in February 2019.
Meanwhile, Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins, who has been criticised for remaining silent since Khawaja dropped a bombshell in his memoir, is set to break his silence over the ball-tampering claims when he addresses the media on Friday in Sydney.
However, T20I captain Mitchell Marsh has declined to respond to the 2018 ball-tampering allegations, saying he has "moved on" from the episode and does not want "to go back to his recollections" from the time in South Africa.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
November 12, 2026 at 08:35PMfrom NDTV News- Special https://ift.tt/e0xG2av
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