Sir Alastair Cook makes a shocking revelation about David Warner in his autobiography. He suggests that Steve Smith was in the know all along.
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Sir Alastair Cook’s autobiography hits hard. It is a brutal review of oneself and the game of cricket that could do well to pay heed to the assessment. The honesty with which Cook has expressed himself is refreshing. However, it is the little anecdote regarding David Warner and Steve Smith that seems to have caused a flutter.
Having played in 7 Ashes during his career, Cook is very well aware of the competitive nature of the Australians. A nature that almost trades morals for victory as was evident by the sandpaper gate during the South Africa series. However, Cook has suggested that something as sinister was happening before and perhaps the incident wasn’t the first time the Aussies had resorted to such measures.
Sir Alastair Cook makes a shocking revelation about David Warner in his autobiography
Sir Alastair Cook, per the Guardian, wrote in his autobiography:
“David Warner, a couple of beers into his celebration, mentioned that he used substances attached to the strapping on his hand to accelerate the deterioration of the ball during a first-class match. I looked at Steve Smith who shot a glance that said: ‘Ooh, you shouldn’t have said that.”
Did the Australians use sandpaper to tamper with the ball before they were caught doing so in Cape Town in March 2018? “Stuart Broad sums it up pretty well and says they got the ball to reverse swing in that Ashes. Why change what you’ve been doing? Why suddenly use sandpaper?
People know what was going on. But it’s been the best thing for Australian cricket because they realised it wasn’t acceptable. The win-at-all-costs culture they created isn’t what the Australian public needed or wanted. They’d gone too far.”
Steve Harmisson had earlier said of Steve Smith that regardless of what he achieves, he would forever be labelled a cheat. That may or may not be true, but with these claims out in the open now, it seems that the chapter is far from closed on the ball tampering incident.
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