High-tech cameras caught Australia’s ball-tampering against South Africa
Australia captain Steve Smith confessed that his side intentionally tried to tamper with the condition of the ball in order to gain an advantage over South Africa during the third Test against South Africa in Cape Town on Saturday.
The Australia’s opening batsman Cameron Bancroft was seen holding the ball when high-tech cameras caught him producing a flat bit of material from his pocket & rubbing it on one side of the ball- that he later confessed was a strip of sticky tape covered in grains of dirt, with slow-motion replays later showing Bancroft putting the material into the front of his trousers in an attempt to hide it when he realised that the umpires were suspicious.
Today, the entire face of cricket has changed dramatically with the use & advancement of modern technologies. Unlike traditional cameras, today’s new high-tech cameras enables cameramen to shoot a slow-motion clip of objects moving very fast without losing clarity or focus.
South African commentator Neil Manthorp revealed that local cameramen were following every move of the ball-tamperer using high-tech cameras during the third test in Cape Town after noting that something was peculiar.
“They could see that something peculiar was going on. They took it upon themselves. It wasn’t a director who said ‘Right. Get onto that’. For them it was a personal triumph,” Manthorp said.
“You wouldn’t have picked it up from the stands. You wouldn’t have picked it up from normal television coverage. We had guys who were trying to do their job, filming the entirety of the event…it took some pretty skilled cameraman to pick it up in the first place,” he added.
The two on-field umpires, Nigel Llong as well as Richard Illingworth, questioned Cameron Bancroft at the time, but he produced what appeared to be a sunglasses bag from his pocket in way of explanation, & in a bid to deceive the officials.
Steve Smith was then banned for one test match by the International Cricket Council as well as fined 100 percent of his match fee. Bancroft, who carried out the tampering, was also fined 75 percent of his match fee.
Cricket Australia’s head of integrity, Iain Roy, is soon going to arrive in South Africa in order to begin the investigation into Saturday’s events, which could see captain Smith, vice captain David Warner as well as Bancroft face further sanctions.
