Australian opening batsman Cameron Bancroft could face questions over an incident captured by television cameras during the third day of the third Test against South Africa at Newlands.
Bancroft was spoken to by umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth during the 43rd over of South Africa’s second innings Saturday after appearing to have an object in his hand after fielding the ball at cover.
Shane Warne, the Australian spin bowling great, made clear his feelings on Twitter: “Very disappointed with the pictures I saw on our coverage here in Cape Town. If proven the alleged ball tampering is what we all think it is — then I hope Steve Smith (Captain) and Darren Lehmann (Coach) do the press conference to clean this mess up!”
While the umpires were conferring, Bancroft appeared to place a small yellow object in his underpants. When the umpires went across to talk to him he reached into a pocket and showed them what seemed to be a different object — what looked like a soft pouch for sunglasses.
The umpires took no action and did not change the ball.
There were boos from a capacity crowd at Newlands when the incident was shown on the big screen at the ground.
