Tim Paine, the former captain of the Australian Test cricket team, has accused the Proteas of ball tampering. Paine claims the incidents happened during the infamous ‘Sandpapergate’ series in 2018, when the Australians were found to be tampering with the ball.
Paine made the claims in his new autobiography which was released this week.
Paine claims that he had seen footage on the big screen of a South African player tampering with the ball in the fourth Test of the 2018 series, but that the footage was subsequently lost. Australia lost the series 3-1, the first time since 1970 that they had lost a Test series in South Africa.
After Australian players were caught tampering with the ball in the ‘Sandpapergate’ series, captain Steve Smith and other players including senior batter, David Warner, were banned for several months.
Paine was appointed captain after Smith was stripped of the job, but he subsequently also stood down from the post in 2021 after it came to light that he had had sent explicit messages, including images of his genitals, to a female colleague.