When Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft went into hiding after being whacked with their ball-tampering suspensions, the cricket world was left with questions.
The full depth of the Australian cricket team's systematic cheating during the infamous South African Tour of 2018 has always been questioned by international cricket commentators after forthright declarations at the time that the Cape Town Test was the first and only time Australia had attempted to use outlawed methods to tamper with the ball.
Still so many questions remain about what really happened inside the Cape Town dressing room before Cameron Bancroft was busted with sandpaper down his trousers and all hell broke loose in Australian cricket.
Veteran umpire Ian Gould has further reminded the cricket world of the questions that have gone unanswered in an explosive new book.
The 62-year-old was the third umpire for the Cape Town Test and reveals in his new autobiography, Gunner — My Life in Cricket, that he was the first official to suspect Bancroft of using a foreign object to rough up the Kookaburra after seeing it on his TV monitor.
David Warner speaking to the media during the ball-tampering scandal. Photo / Getty
He passed the message onto the on-field umpires that Bancroft needed to be questioned, triggering one of the greatest scandals in the history of Australian sport.
"All I thought was – Jesus, how do I put this out to the guys on the field without making it an over-reaction," Gould writes in the book.
"But when it came into my earpiece I didn't think the prime minister of Australia was going to come tumbling down on these three guys.
"I didn't realise what the repercussions would be.
"Then the true scandal really broke, when more TV pictures showed Bancroft concealing sandpaper, and shame descended not only on Australia's cricket team, but the nation."
Gould claims in the book the Australian cricket team had been "out of control" for up to three years before being busted in Cape Town.
He says there is no evidence to suggest Australia was cheating before Cape Town, but there is plenty of evidence to suggest the team's behaviour was crossing the line on the spirit of cricket.
"If you look back on it now, Australia were out of control probably two years, maybe three years, before that, but not in this sense," Gould claimed.
"Maybe – behavioural, chatty, being pretty average people.
"Obviously, what's come from it is for the betterment of Australian cricket – and cricket generally."
PAINE RESPONDS TO CLARKE KOHLI ACCUSATION
Former Test captain Michael Clarke accused Australia's 2018-19 side of "sucking up" to Virat Kohli and India to safeguard IPL deals and now the current skipper has fired back.
Tim Paine dismissed the claims, saying that million-dollar IPL contracts were the last thing on their minds as Australia went down 2-1 in the home series against India.
"I certainly wasn't holding back, but again, the IPL's not a huge draw for me at the moment, so I had nothing to lose," Paine said.
"But anytime our guys go out and play a Test match for Australia, they'll be giving their absolute all and I'm pretty sure they're not thinking about an IPL contract when they're running in, bowling to Virat."
Australia were without Steve Smith and David Warner for the series in a serious leadership void, meaning communication was even more important this time around.
Even if the team had tried to sledge Kohli and put him off his game, Paine says it would have made no difference.
"What you say on the field is irrelevant 99 per cent of the time," Paine said.
"Sometimes you can get a little inside someone's head or something like that, but if you're not batting well and not bowling well, all the talk in the world doesn't mean anything.
"There's no doubt our first focus is on executing our skill and being as good as we can possibly be in that area and then sometimes things happen on a cricket field and you've got to go in, you've got to change your tack, or you've got to have a few words."
