'I think bowlers have spoken to Cameron Bancroft and cleared the air there' - Tim Paine on situation inside Australia camp

For the past few days, the 2018 ball-tampering scandal has become a hot topic in the cricket fraternity with cricket analysts, veteran players, and fans coming up with their own assumptions and views. Cricket Australia (CA) had closed the matter in 2018 after declaring Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft guilty and handing them a ban from the game of cricket for a certain period of time.

However, the episode resurfaced after Bancroft hinted that the other bowlers present in the game knew about the ball being tampered with sandpaper. The controversial statement by the Australian bowler put Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon, and Mitchell Marsh under the radar. Thus, all the four players came with an official statement where they cleared all the other bowlers are innocent.

Through the statement, the bowlers also requested the cricket fraternity to put an end to the incident and not bring it up again and again. Australian current Test captain Tim Paine detailed his opinion on the statement released by the bowlers as he revealed the reaction of Cummins, Hazelwood, Lyon, and Marsh. 

Speaking to the media, Paine asserted that the bowlers are frustrated with the entire fiasco. However, they kept their calm and handled the matter like mature adults by clearing out things with Cameron. The skipper further added that the mood of the camp is fine and everybody is looking to moving forward from the incident. 

We don’t pick Test teams on what they say in the media: Tim Paine

“I think they’re frustrated that it keeps popping up but I think that’s part and parcel for everyone who played in that test match. Their mood was fine, I think they’ve spoken to (Bancroft), cleared the air there and I think everyone’s looking forward to moving on. We’re all grown men and those guys have made contact with each other and sorted it out,” Paine told reporters in Hobart

Further, in the interaction, Tim Paine assured that Cameron’s comments regarding the ball-tampering scandal will not have any consequences. The skipper claimed that the Test team is not selected on the basis of what the players say in the media instead importance is given to their performance. 

“We don’t pick Test teams on what they say in the media. We pick Test teams on how many runs they’re scoring … and that certainly won’t be held against him,” said Paine, who had replaced Smith as captain in the aftermath of Sandpaper Gate.

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