David Saker, the former Australia bowling coach, has denied he knew sandpaper was taken on the field by Cameron Bancroft during the infamous Newlands Test and called for Cricket Australia to release the report conducted in the wake of the ball-tampering incident.
Facing questions about his own knowledge of the events that led to bans for Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith, as well as his own departure from the Australian coaching set up, Saker suggested that if the report conducted at the time of the incident by CA’s former head of integrity, Iain Roy, was made public, it may help resolve any outstanding questions, although he believed the issue would keep resurfacing in the future.
“I can’t see any point why it wouldn’t be released, but that’s, yeah that’s up to them the way they want to handle that,” said Saker.
When pressed on why he’d like to see the report made public, Saker added, “Because these questions keep coming up. Maybe if it’s released, then maybe questions might stop, but I don’t think they will. The questions will keep getting asked.”
After Cameron Bancroft appeared to suggest in an interview with the Guardian that the Australian bowlers knew he was tampering with the ball - an implication they vigorously denied - Saker was also back in the headlines thanks to comments made to The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.
“There was a lot of people to blame,” said Saker.
“It could have been me to blame, it could have been someone else. It could have been stopped and it wasn’t, which is unfortunate.
“You could point your finger at me, you could point your finger at Boof [then head coach, Darren Lehmann], could you point it at other people, of course you could."
Speaking to the media in his new role as head coach of the Melbourne Renegades, Saker denied any knowledge of the plan hatched by Warner and Bancroft, with the knowledge of Smith, to smuggle sandpaper onto the field.
“Well, there’s no doubt I had no idea there was any sandpaper involved," said Saker.
"As far as we knew, we were using normal tactics to get the ball reverse swinging so that’s as far as I know, and the comments and the Iain Roy thing we’ve said what we have to say and that’s probably where I’d leave it.
“I can’t say any more than I think the full story has been told and that’s, as far as I know, that’s what’s being told is what’s happened. So, if other people have got other things that they saw or did they can come out and say it at a later stage but I’ve said everything about that I’ve seen."
Saker is resigned to the fact his involvement with the team at the time will result in ongoing speculation about who knew what behind the scenes.
“Yeah, look I’m comfortable with where I’m at about it all. I think it’s always gonna be brought up. It’s going to be like the underarm [incident], it’s going to be brought up all the time," said Saker.
“I was involved in the team obviously. So it’s going to [keep] being brought up but I’m not sure it’s going to get anywhere.
"I think everyone’s told what they’ve told, they’ve had inquiries about it. We’ve all gone in and did our bit so I can’t see it going any further, but the questions will keep coming.
"There’s no doubt about that, but that’s just a part of life, you’ve got to deal with that but it’s never going to go away, that’s for sure.”
