Former Australian skipper, Michael Clarke is not in agreement with the clarification given by the Australian bowlers regarding the 2018 ball-tampering episode. He also pointed out they missed a very important detail in an otherwise “smartly worded” joint statement. Former Australian skipper pointed out that the bowlers didn’t even mention the incident’s chief protagonist, Cameron Bancroft, and the Australian team’s former bowling coach, David Saker.

The four bowlers — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon — found themselves caught in a storm triggered by Cameron Bancroft’s recent comments. On Tuesday, Australian bowlers issued a joint statement, once again pleading their innocence in the ball-tampering saga after Bancroft had earlier said that the bowlers were also aware of the tampering. 

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Talking about the same, during a chat on ‘Sky SPorts’ radio, Michael Clarke said, “I knew when I made my comments about what Cameron Bancroft’s quotes were it was more than likely going to offend certain people. It certainly was not done personally from my perspective, particularly with the four bowlers concerned, I’m good friends with all of them.”

In a recent interview, Bancroft went on to claim that the team’s bowlers could have been aware of the illegal plot. He has since backtracked from his statement after Cricket Australia offered a reinvestigation.

Talking about the same, Michael Clarke said, “I think there have been a number of people, past players, journalists who have made comments based on what Cameron Bancroft said and then what David Saker, the bowling coach, as well had said. The one thing that stands out for me in that statement (is) they forgot how this conversation was brought up. It was comments from a teammate Cameron Bancroft who was involved in the situation.

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He further added, “I think those guys and Cricket Australia need to remember how this conversation has been brought up…you probably should have put current teammate who was there at the time and did the crime and bowling coach who was there too. This statement is very smartly worded and written so I’m not going to sit here and continue to talk about every word in that statement. I’ve said what I’ve said. I said what I said because that’s what I believe.”