The Australian speedster Josh Hazlewood feels that the Sandpaper Gate took place because Steve Smith and his men were feeling the pressure of winning each and every game, which forced them into doing something stupid. The scandal forced skipper Steve Smith and deputy David Warner being handed a 12-month ban while Cameron Bancroft was banned for 9 months.

During a recent chat with News Corp, Hazlewood said, “It’s a big tour always South Africa, coming off the back of an Ashes as well which was quite stressful. Where the stress has come from is that we are pretty much measured on our cricket ability, not as people off the field, which we had probably got away from in the past six months, 12 months.”

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He further added, “A focus only on results I guess drives people to do different things and we are only measured by our cricket success. I don’t think that’s how it is now, I think that’s changed a little bit, JL has talked a lot about how we are behaving off the field and we are going to be measured on that as well which is a good sign.”

Hazlewood further reckons that while there was no doubt that Smith as a batsman and player was one of the best in world cricket, he isn’t equipped enough to lead the champion side with full throttle. 

Hazlewood was also surprised by how the Australian people reacted to the whole episode. He said, “We went to bed that night and Australia hadn’t woken up yet when it hit back in Australia and we woke up it was quite surprising how big a reaction it was. It wasn’t massive in South Africa, all the Australian writers know it’s going on here and there and around different teams and people have been done in the past, I guess they talked it down a bit if anything but once it hit home the media went the other way and the reaction was massive.”