Cameron Bancroft has broken his silence over what really happened in the ball-tampering scandal. Photo / Getty
Cameron Bancroft has broken his silence over what really happened in the ball-tampering scandal. Photo / Getty
Cameron Bancroft has opened up on the ball tampering scandal, revealing what happened inside the Australian dressing room in Cape Town before he was caught cheating.
Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for 12 months for their role in the controversy while Bancroft was suspended for nine months after he admitted to roughing up the ball with sandpaper during the third test against South Africa.
In an exclusive interview with Aussie legend Adam Gilchrist aired on Fox Cricket during the lunch break on the opening day of the Boxing Day Test between Australia and India, Bancroft revealed how he was coerced into cheating by Warner because he desperately wanted to feel valued within the team.
"Dave (Warner) suggested to me to carry the action out on the ball given the situation we were in in the game and I didn't know any better," Bancroft told Gilchrist, as reported exclusively by Fox Sports.
David Warner and Cameron Bancroft celebrate winning the Ashes. Photo / Getty
"I didn't know any better because I just wanted to fit in and feel valued, really — as simple as that.
"The decision was based around my values, what I valued at the time and I valued fitting in … you hope that fitting in earns you respect and with that, I guess, there came a pretty big cost for the mistake."
Despite Warner being the instigator, Bancroft — who was only eight matches into his Test career when he tampered with the ball — refused to blame anyone else and took full responsibility for his actions.
Cameron Bancroft was banned from cricket for nine months for ball tampering. Photo / Getty Images
The opening batsman illustrated what a tough spot he was in when he said he would have felt just as bad had he refused to ball tamper because he'd feel like he was letting the team down by not helping it gain an advantage.
"I would have gone to bed and I would have felt like I had let everybody down. I would have felt like I had let the team down. I would have left like I had hurt our chances to win the game of cricket," Bancroft said.
Kerry O'Keeffe said he was surprised at Bancroft's comment explaining he'd have felt just as bad if he said no to tampering with the ball.
Revealing interview with Cameron Bancroft. The crushing pressure to conform to the point of flagrant cheating is damning.
"Does that say more about Bancroft or about the atmosphere inside the team culture?" O'Keeffe queried. "I think it says more about (the team), that he couldn't say no to cheating. That atmosphere should never have been able to develop, but it obviously had.
"I can't help but feeling it's still hovering over the team."
Damning stuff this from a very open interview...Bancroft felt he had to do it to fit in and "earn respect." https://t.co/EHdc3Y5g9w
The 26-year-old said he immediately went to the umpires after being caught with sandpaper.
"I went in an apologised, I said I was ashamed of my actions. It was something I wanted to do, to be accountable," he said.
"I think I had to forget about the public for quite a while ... I had to learn and discover my own value, to forgive and respect myself."
The West Australian gun said the Longstaff review presented an "amazing opportunity" to rebuild Aussie cricket.
"The reason why it was painful is because the truth hurts. Maybe in that review there was some truths that were pretty hard to accept.
"What does that bring? It brings an amazing opportunity to do something about it. Only Cricket Australia will know if they are being true to themselves, to be able to own up to some of those recommendations. If they can look at themselves in the mirror and be really content and be really peaceful, and proud of the direction they're going, that's OK."
Bancroft's revelation he just wanted to fit in backs up claims made earlier this month by WACA CEO Christina Matthews, who said the West Australian felt compelled to cheat because he was desperate to belong.
"He was only an eight-Test player, he was new into the team and I think he was widely seen as much as a victim as a perpetrator in the whole thing," Matthews told SEN.
"I think he was naive and desperate to belong, so he was caught in a position of, 'What do I do?'
"That's the real indictment that when your captain kind of knows what's going on and doesn't stop it and your vice-captain's involved, you say, 'Well where do I go?'
"He said and we have said the whole time his responsibility was to say no but for whatever reason he felt that he couldn't."
Umpires chatting with Cameron Bancroft of Australia during the ball tampering incident. Photo /Getty
Bancroft broke his silence on the most dramatic chapter of his career a few days ago as he prepares to make his return to cricket in the BBL with the Perth Scorchers when his ban ends on December 29.
The 26-year-old wrote a long letter addressed to his former self, published in the West Australian newspaper, describing his emotional journey since the ball tampering scandal.
In it, Bancroft described the major influence Australian coach Justin Langer has had on him, along with West Australian mentor Adam Voges.
He said a crucial moment was Voges asking him to justify why he should be on a pre-season trip to Brisbane by the Western Warriors Sheffield Shield team.
"On your way to present your case to your coach you realise this is the moment when you begin to become OK with the thought of never having cricket as part of your life again," he wrote in the self-addressed letter.
"Until you are able to acknowledge that you are Cameron Bancroft, the person who plays cricket as a profession, and not Cameron Bancroft the cricketer, you will not be able to move forward.
Yoga became an important part of his life in exile while dealing with an absence of cricket, to the extent that he considered quitting the game to become of a teacher of the discipline.
"Maybe cricket isn't for you, you'll ask yourself … will you return? Yoga will be such a fulfilling experience," he wrote.
Steve Smith was sacked as Australian captain over his part in the scandal. Photo / Getty
Bancroft ultimately decided to pursue his cricket career and is due to make his comeback in the Big Bash Twenty20 League for the Perth Scorchers on December 30.
"While you do not look that different, on the inside you are a vastly different man to the bloke who made that mistake in South Africa," he added in the letter.
"You know you cannot say sorry enough, but actually it is time you allow your cricket to be about what you have learnt and use this opportunity to make a great impact."
