The ghosts of Newlands are back, louder and uglier than ever.
Eight years after the Sandpaper-gate scandal shattered Australian cricket's moral posture, former national bowling coach David Saker stands accused of ordering Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to cover up the illicit tool used to scuff the ball in Cape Town. Facing the world's media in March 2018 after television cameras caught Bancroft shoving a mystery yellow object down his trousers, the panic inside the Australian room peaked. Saker stepped in with a desperate gag order.
"You can't say sandpaper," Saker repeatedly instructed the duo, barring them from naming the abrasive sheet before they faced reporters.
Others in the room told the players to tell the truth. Bancroft lied anyway. He faced the microphones and claimed the object was yellow adhesive tape, sticking to a script that collapsed within days when Cricket Australia banished Smith, David Warner, and Bancroft from international cricket.
The explosive disclosure blows apart the long-curated official version of events. Cricket Australia originally framed the plot as the rogue scheme of a desperate three-man cell—conceived by Warner, executed by Bancroft, and tolerated by Smith.
Fresh details drawn from the dressing-room accounts of former Australian opener Usman Khawaja's memoir, Sabr, trace the roots of the operation directly to the coaching staff. Khawaja described an environment where ball-tampering was common knowledge across the entire squad, openly questioning why only three players took the fall while coaches and senior peers walked away unscathed.
Saker, who was not named directly in the text but has now been identified as the coach in question, allegedly orchestrated the initial cover-up inside the Newlands pavilion just minutes before the catastrophic press conference.
| Figure | Role in 2018 Cape Town Test | Sanction or Career Action |
|---|---|---|
| Steve Smith | Australian Captain | 12-Month Ban by Cricket Australia |
| David Warner | Vice-Captain | 12-Month Ban & Leadership Lifetime Bar |
| Cameron Bancroft | Opening Batter | 9-Month Ban by Cricket Australia |
| David Saker | Bowling Coach | Exited February 2019 Under CA NDA |
| Usman Khawaja | Opening Batter |
The tampering went far beyond a sudden impulse on the field. In Sabr, Khawaja documents a lunch-break exchange between the bowling coach and Bancroft on that fateful third day in Cape Town, moments before Bancroft produced the yellow sheet.
With a smile on his face, he said, 'Bangers, whatever you're doing, we need more of it. It's wet out there – we just need more of it'. Then I saw Bangers pick up a piece of sandpaper and put it in his pocket. The coach gave both me and Cameron a wry smile of satisfaction and walked away.
Earlier in the series, the coach explicitly demanded reverse swing by any means necessary, pushing his bowlers to manufacture an edge on unresponsive South African decks.
Guys, I don't care what happens, but Test cricketers are too good against the straight ball. We need to get the ball shifting when it gets old. I don't care what you have to do, or how, but we need to get it moving in the air. That's the only chance we have.
Bancroft listened. He pocketed the abrasive. Minutes later, the broadcaster's long-range lenses exposed the entire operation to millions.
Saker's coaching credentials carried enormous weight within elite circles. He masterminded England's bowling blueprint during their landmark 2010-11 Ashes victory on Australian soil, later working with England's setup across the 2013, 2023, and 2025-26 Ashes campaigns.
Yet his time with Australia finished abruptly. Saker walked out on Cricket Australia in February 2019, signing a strict non-disclosure agreement that locked his version of the Cape Town scandal behind commercial silence.
That silence has now shattered. Cricket Australia faces mounting pressure to address why their internal 2018 review failed to expose the coaching staff's direct complicity in the most damaging scandal of modern cricket.
| Authored Dressing Room Memoir Sabr |