Cricket: Did Australia ball-tamper in World Cup final?

The biggest cricket scandal in years has forced fans to rethink everything they know about Australian cricket.

One of the biggest questions on everyone's minds: Has Australia cheated before?

That was the question on former Black Caps star Grant Elliott's mind after hearing about the ball-tampering scandal.

"The first question I asked was well what happened in the world cup final, were they doing it there?" Elliott told the Hauraki Breakfast.

"We were in a good position at 150 for three and at that stage you don't know. You ask these questions.

"Unfortunately now the stats will go okay this is someone's average before sandpaper gate and this is their average after sandpaper gate. There will be some bowlers that will actually come under the knife a little bit in terms of how good they were and how long they've been doctoring the ball for."

Steve Smith and David Warner both received 12 month bans from Cricket Australia, while Cameron Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban.

The former New Zealand all-rounder did however express sympathy for the Australian trio, who he said were being treated like criminals.

"I think these guys are being treated like criminal which is not great. I saw a video of Steve Smith being hauled through the airport by four or five policeman in South Africa.

"He's not a criminal. They made a mistake and they're gonna do their time which is tough to hear."

Warner has apologised to fans in a post to fans on social media.