Sandpapergate: The scandal that nearly shattered Australian cricket forged record-breakers

The hottest fires forge the sternest steel, and there has never been a firestorm that burned fiercer than the sandpaper scandal that ripped apart careers and left Australian cricket embarrassed by its own identity.

But from the ashes of one of this country’s darkest sporting moments was born a team that reinstated what it means to be an Australian Test player, all while returning to the top of the global rankings.

And now, as they return to the scene of the crime for the first time next week, this team reforged in fire is on the brink of immortality.

Very few cricket fans have forgotten where they were on March 24, 2018, when the vision of West Australian Test rookie Cam Bancroft pulling a piece of yellow sandpaper out of his pants to illegally tamper with the ball at Newlands Stadium in Cape Town was beamed around the globe.

Some watched the late-night coverage live, while others had their hearts shattered during an early-morning call of nature, or awoke to the scarcely-believable news dominating headlines.

However, for anyone who had watched the series closely, the signs of storm clouds were there.

Former West Australian star and Seven expert Simon Katich commented on the first two Tests of the series that saw Australia win in Durban before being ripped apart by quick Kagiso Rabada as the Proteas levelled the series in Gqeberha (formerly known as Port Elizabeth).

“We sensed something was brewing in those two Tests because in Durban, when Australia won, there was an altercation in the stairwell between (Quinton) De Kock and (David) Warner. And then that led into the second Test in Port Elizabeth, where AB De Villiers made a magnificent hundred, which ended up being the match-winning knock,” he told The West Australian.

“You could sense something was brewing because every time he came out to the middle, it was pretty clear that the South Africans knew something was going on in the field and wanted the umpires to have a look at things.

“Then to see what happened in Cape Town didn’t come as a huge surprise.”

In the lead-up to to the Cape Town Test, tensions ran high, with players in standoffs during breaks, and camera operators fed intel on how to get close-ups of the Australian fielders as the South Africans peered through binoculars from the dressing room.

What erupted in the aftermath had never been seen before in Australian cricket.

Steve Smith, David Warner and Bancroft bore the brunt.

They were brought to tears in agonising press conferences and ultimately sent home broken men with 12-month bans for Smith and Warner. The younger Bancroft was exiled for nine months by Cricket Australia, but the opener was left in the cold for far longer.

For past player and coach Greg Blewett, the fallout left him feeling just as sick as the cheating itself.

“There was just a sense of embarrassment to be honest, and it was pretty quickly going to catch fire,” he said.

“I really felt for some of the people there as well because I was only two or three months out of a coaching position with the Australian cricket team as fielding coach.

“There was a little bit of relief as well that I wasn’t part of it, but I was completely shocked that we’d go to those lengths.

“Having worked with the players involved, whether it was the three sent home or even the other guys, I obviously felt for them because what they went through was unbelievable.

“I know they did the wrong thing, but at the end of the day, humans make mistakes, but to see the emotion in those guys and how it affected them and their families, it was pretty hard to take.

“The other part of that was how poorly it was handled during the game, and the press conference after the game, it was a train wreck.”

It was hard to fathom the team’s decision-making in the heat of the moment, but looking back, Blewett said it stank of a team driven to “desperation” to succeed.

“There was obviously a degree of desperation,” he said.

“I think it’s quite well known that a lot of the teams were doing things to the ball to get it going reverse swing because it’s a huge factor in cricket.

“So, whether it got to a point where that team in that game just couldn’t get it going, or whatever they were doing wasn’t working, but then to even attempt to get away with something like that is just brutally desperate.”

South African star Faf du Plessis had been found guilty of ball tampering two years earlier, rubbing mints onto the ball with his saliva, while just three months after Sandpapergate, Sri Lankan Dinesh Chandimal was caught using mints in St. Lucia.

The pair missed one match, with each nation’s cricket board not intervening past the ICC’s punishment.

Three-Test quick and New South Wales stalwart Trent Copeland revealed every professional cricketer in the country felt the consequences.

It was also personal for the 40-year-old, who had played with Smith and Warner.

“(Playing again) was different,” he told The Nightly.

“Some of my close mates I’d played cricket with over a long time wore the brunt of what happened, so it wasn’t nice to be a part of it.

“I wasn’t a direct part of it, but just seeing people’s hurt in that moment (was hard).“

With two of the nation’s best players sidelined and the team’s reputation in tatters, change was inevitable.

WA great Justin Langer was brought in as coach off the back of his success leading Perth Scorchers, as well as at state level, while Tim Paine was thrust into the limelight as captain.

They all knew the months ahead would be difficult and while they struggled at times on-field, they slowly rebuilt the nation’s trust with combative but fair cricket.

“Behind the scenes, the players that had been a part of that group in South Africa, whilst three of them paid the price, the rest of the players had been part of that dressing room so whether they had known or not, only they will ever know that, but there would have been a lot of angst around the group to turn it around in such a high-pressure environment,” Katich said.

“Every team that played against Australia in that period was going to come hard, and for them to be able to cope with that, and the external pressures from the public, and internally turn things around, I think they deserve a lot of credit.

“Justin as coach, and then the leaders, Tim Paine came into that role, and now Pat Cummins has done a remarkable job as well. They deserve a lot of credit for making sure we’re back on track.”

The bowlers copped plenty of heat after Sandpapergate given it was Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon leading the attack in that infamous Test.

They have become the core leadership of the team in the years since, Cummins returning as one of the rare Australian bowling captains, while the quartet itself will go down in the annals as one of the nation’s best of all-time in a stacked field.

“The perception on what would change would be ‘awe well, bowlers are really going to struggle now with no reverse swing and things like that,” Copeland said.

“But it’s been very clear to me, and everyone who’s actually watched a game of Test cricket, that our group of bowlers were elite and have been elite, and are possibly going down as one of the greatest quartets of all time.

“So, clarifying the view on those things and the status of those groups, Steve Smith on his return, David Warner on his return, even with a year out of the game, just elite players.

“Some of the players have been constants (since), but they’ve also unearthed guys like Alex Carey and even Travis Head, in terms of where he was at that point compared to where he is today as one of the world’s best in multiple formats.

“So, there were silver linings that came out of it.

“And I think that group has no doubt galvanised because of it, and we sit here today and think about that 20-Test stretch and this is right up there.”

Australia will take on this tour of South Africa before a home series against New Zealand leads into a Test tour of India, the day-night 150th anniversary match against England, a potential World Test final and then an Ashes tour behind enemy lines.

This team has achieved two away Ashes draws in a row, but has not tasted success on English soil since 2001 or in India since 2004.

And with many senior members of the side in the twilight of their careers, including Smith and Lyon, they have the chance to bury the memory of Sandpapergate under the weight of success.

“Having gone to that level where, at a point in time, they were a disgrace to the nation. It was a huge talking point how far we’d dropped to stoop to those levels to win a game of cricket,” Katich, who was a member of the last Aussie Test team to conquer India, said.

“So they’d come from those depths of despair and what some of their teammates had gone through getting banned, I think they went through an awful lot together, and that bond has probably (helped) them grow as a group.

“It was a relatively settled, experienced Test line-up for the best part of a decade since they were in South Africa, and I think now a lot of them are at that stage of their career, in particular the bowling line-up, will go down as some of Australia’s all-time greats.

“And it’s also a group that’s got a chance in the next 12 months to try and become a great Australian team, because I don’t think you can be considered that until you win in places like India and England. They’re probably the two things this group hasn’t ticked off yet.”

But first, they need to vanquish the ghosts of their past, including a Test match back at Cape Town.

“I think that they will know that’s coming,” Blewett said.

“I’m sure they will have mechanisms around how that will play out, so the best thing they can do is play some good cricket. But I’m sure that will all be addressed before they get there.

“On a mental side, it’s important, so I would not think for a second that coach Andrew McDonald wouldn’t speak to the guys about, possibly, what’s coming, and even the senior guys would know what it’s like playing in South Africa.”