Clarke expresses surprise at Smith and Bancroft: Former Australian captain has lashed out the duo for doing interviews.
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Former Australia captain Michael Clarke has expressed being at odds with the notion of banned duo of Steven Smith and Cameron Bancroft doing interviews and revealing the details of the Sandpaper gate which happened earlier this year at Cape Town.
Earlier this week, both Smith and Bancroft did interviews with former Australia Adam Gilchrist for Fox Sports. While Bancroft blamed himself for wanting to fit in and feel valued in the Australian setup, Smith said that
Clarke said that Bancroft doing the interview was still acceptable at some level for he has served his ban. With Smith still serving his ban, it didn’t go down well with the 37-year old.
Speaking to Dominic Cork and Sunil Gavaskar during the post-match show at Sony LIV, Clarke expressed anger and surprise over the duo, saying that so many questions still remain unanswered. “It still makes me so angry watching bringing up what happened in South Africa as a past Australian player and captain. I am so surprised that Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft have done interviews at this stage.
“Exactly like you’re saying Corky [Dominic Cork], for the Australian public there are still so many questions unanswered even after these two have done these interviews. If you’re going to do these interviews, you have got to answer those tough questions. If you’re not willing to answer those then don’t the interview,” Clarke was quoted as saying.
Believing in the Australian audiences, Clarke said that there remains no doubt in them forgiving these cricketers. He was of the opinion that these players need to score runs for Australia not do such interviews.
“I think there’s no doubt that the Australian public will forgive or have forgiven Warner, Smith and Bancroft for the incident. If they start bringing this up and again, we are so far down the track with what Tim Paine is doing as captain, what the Australian team is trying to achieve, going and fighting that well in Perth.
These three players can score runs, help whichever team they are playing their cricket for and come back and play for Australia. That’s what they need to do,” Clarke added.
Clarke was against the these players doing interviews without being 100% honest in them. “Don’t talk about what happened unless you’re going to come out and be 100% honest with no skeletons in the closet. Unless you’re going to do that, just play cricket, come back into the team and help Australia win matches,” he concluded.
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