Faf Du Plessis Reveals South Africa Tipped Off Super Sport During Sandpapergate
- Former Proteas captain Faf Du Plessis disclosed that South Africa alerted broadcaster Super Sport to their suspicions during the 2018 ball-tampering scandal
- Du Plessis said his team first grew suspicious during the opening Test of the series and began tracking which player was handling the ball
- The revelation came ahead of Australia's first Test in Cape Town since the Sandpapergate scandal rocked international cricket
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Former Proteas captain Faf Du Plessis has revealed that it was South Africa who first raised the alarm about Australia's ball-tampering during the 2018 Sandpapergate scandal, disclosing that his side sent a deliberate "memo" to broadcaster Super Sport to follow the ball during the second Test.
Du Plessis made the disclosure in a conversation with The Grade Cricketer podcast ahead of Australia's third and deciding Test against South Africa in Cape Town, their first match at Newlands since the scandal unfolded there in 2018.
South Africa Suspected Australia From the First Test
Du Plessis said the Proteas first grew suspicious during the opening Test of the series, when Mitchell Starc was generating exceptional reverse swing. The team initially began monitoring the Australians with binoculars, not to catch them cheating, but to understand how they were achieving such movement with the old ball.
"I can tell you we thought that it was happening in the first Test because we were like, 'This is ridiculous'," Du Plessis said. "We were like, follow the ball, just follow the ball."
By the time the series reached Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha, Du Plessis says the instruction to Super Sport was explicit. Cameras began tracking which fielder received the ball between deliveries, and a pattern emerged: the ball was consistently going to the same player at mid-off.
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"And then second Test we went to PE, and the memo was: follow the ball, just follow the ball, to Super Sport," he said.
"And they could see that it was still going to someone at mid-off all the time. Then after tea there was a lot of tape on the fingers."
Du Plessis Defends Bancroft
Cameron Bancroft was ultimately caught on the big screen with sandpaper concealed in his trousers during the third Test at Newlands. He, along with captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner, received bans from Cricket Australia. Umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth confronted Bancroft after the footage aired.
Du Plessis, who was himself twice cited for ball-tampering during his career — in 2013 for using the zip of his trousers and in 2016 for applying sugar-laden saliva to shine the ball — said he has sympathy for Bancroft.
"I feel for Cameron Bancroft because I went through the exact same thing in my Test career earlier on," he said, adding that the practice had been widespread across world cricket before Sandpapergate drew a firm line.
Du Plessis argued the incident fundamentally altered how the game is played, with reverse swing largely disappearing from international cricket in the years since.
"It changed reverse swing. It was basically a line-in-the-sand moment for everyone in the future that was looking at that ball going, 'Should I? No, absolutely not'," he said.
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Source: Briefly News
