Cricket: 'Will be interesting when David Warner writes a book': Stuart Broad reacts on sandpaper gate

Stuart Broad believes that more content with respect to the 2018 sandpaper gate scandal will be revealed when David Warner, Steve Smith, and Cameron Bancroft retire from international cricket. The ball-tampering scandal including the three Australian cricketers came into the spotlight again after Bancroft recently hinted that Aussie bowlers were aware of the plot.

Cricket Australia's Integrity Team has contacted Cameron Bancroft to check whether he has new information to give on the issue.

Talking about the entire incident, Broad said that on the off chance in which he misses a seam by four millimeters, his pace bowling partner James Anderson rushes to tell him that he is missing the seam, proposing that bowlers in the team are very much aware of the state of the ball and need to look after it.

"I've obviously never bowled within the Australian bowling attack but I can talk about how, in an England Test team, if I miss the seam by four millimeters, Jimmy Anderson is on me. He'll be saying why has this ball got a mark on it here? It's because you've missed the seam! Start hitting the seam, will you," Broad was quoted as saying by ESPNCricinfo. 

"I have seen a couple of comments from David Warner's agent, too, and I think it will be an interesting time when he stops playing for Australia and writes a book."

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Broad clarified that reverse swing with the red ball can be influenced by various elements and everybody in the team plays a part in keeping it fit as a fiddle. 

“If you chase it to the boundary and throw it into the grass it can smooth the ball over and stop it reversing. If you touch the ball with wet hands it will stop it from reversing. If you shine it in a way that smooths over the rough side it will stop it from reversing. So as an England team, we are aware if we're trying to get the ball reversing every player has to buy into that or it will stop it," the veteran English pacer said.

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The English seamer didn't say that this controversy will be in concentration during the Ashes but indicated that the fan group Barmy Army may have a thing to two to say about it. 

"There's no doubt the Aussies would have been hoping this episode was signed sealed and delivered. It was an incredibly tough thing for those three players to go through. I can't see it still being a conversation [when the Ashes start] in November, December, but I can see it being sung in the Barmy Army stands if they're allowed” - he added.

In March 2018, Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera attempting to tamper with the state of the ball utilising sandpaper in a Test match against South Africa. The scandal later proceeded to be marked as the 'Sandpaper Gate' and is considered as probably the most obscure crossroads throughout the entire existence of Australian cricket.