The 2018 sandpaper ball-tampering scandal continues to overshadow Australia's Test series in South Africa, eight years after the infamous Cape Town Test, with the full truth of what happened still undisclosed.
Australia's Test team was due to return to South Africa in February 2021, less than three years after the scandal, but the tour was cancelled due to the pandemic. Cricket Australia deferred the replacement tour, and it has now taken eight years for an Australian Test return to supersede their previous ill-starred visit.
An uneasy truce maintained
Every player and staff member from 2018 publicly maintains the uncomfortable truce struck days after the event: that no Australian players had ball-tampered before that match, and that nobody knew beyond the three charged. A shallow investigation allowed Cricket Australia to arrive at these conclusions and avoid looking further.
CA's disciplinary report identified David Warner as the instigator, Cameron Bancroft as the patsy, and Steve Smith as the leader who failed to curtail them. But no player has ever acknowledged in plain language what actually happened, either on tour or that day.
Warner's ongoing claims
Warner has implied for years that he was hard done by. In the past week, he has used social media posts and replies to inject ambiguity into the idea that he was principally responsible, while withholding any information that would back up his claim.
His former teammates won't name Warner, and Warner won't name them. Stories only go away when the mysteries of their plots are solved, and the wait for this one goes on.
Cultural change credited
Despite the ongoing saga, the sandpaper debacle may have been good for the Australian team, knocking on the head the obsession with tough-bastard bluster that made previous champion sides so unlikeable.
The change in cultural style would not have been possible without the culture shock that preceded it. The players involved should know that truths don't rest until their names are spoken. This story will stay alive for years more, unless it is finally put to sleep.
