Former South Africa captain Faf du Plessis has revisited the infamous Sandpaper Gate scandal involving Australia during the 2018 Cape Town Test, revealing that he particularly felt sorry for Cameron Bancroft after the ball-tampering incident. The controversy erupted when television cameras caught Bancroft attempting to alter the condition of the ball using sandpaper during the Test against South Africa.
The incident sent shockwaves through world cricket and resulted in severe consequences for the Australian team. Steve Smith was removed as captain, while Smith and David Warner were handed 12-month bans by Cricket Australia. Bancroft received a nine-month suspension.
Faf du Plessis was leading South Africa at the time and remembers the moment Bancroft was exposed on camera. Speaking to Vernon Philander on the Beyond the Boundary podcast, the former Proteas captain said his immediate reaction was sympathy for the young Australian batter, who appeared unsure about how to respond after being caught. “I felt sorry for the guy. When I saw him, first of all, he did that, and I was like, ‘Shame.’ He doesn’t know what to do,” du Plessis recalled.
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He also described the situation as extremely difficult for the Australian team, particularly after the incident triggered an enormous media storm. Du Plessis remembered that Australia delayed its post-match press conference, leaving members of the South African camp wondering why the team was taking so long to address the controversy.
The former South African skipper also questioned how Cricket Australia handled the crisis. According to du Plessis, the initial controversy escalated significantly once the issue attracted political attention in Australia, with then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and former Australian cricketers publicly criticising the players.
Du Plessis believes the situation could have been dealt with more internally rather than allowing public and political pressure to influence the eventual punishment. He also argued that ball tampering was not necessarily an issue unique to the three Australian players who were caught. In his view, Smith, Warner and Bancroft became the faces of a wider problem because they were the ones exposed.
The former Royal Challengers Bengaluru skipper admitted that he initially expected the controversy to fade within “a week or a month”. Instead, the punishments resulted in Smith and Warner missing an entire year of international cricket, while Bancroft was sidelined for nine months. Du Plessis felt the punishment became much bigger than he initially anticipated and believed responsibility should not have been placed entirely on three individuals.
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He had particular sympathy for Bancroft, who was the player seen carrying out the act on the field. At the same time, du Plessis praised Smith for accepting responsibility as captain and publicly acknowledging his role in the scandal. The Sandpaper Gate episode remains one of the most controversial moments in modern Australian cricket, and du Plessis’ recollection offers a perspective from the opposition camp that was present as the crisis unfolded.
