Must admit, now that it's sandpaper, it increases the likelihood that it was going on in earlier Test matches.
Darren Gough makes a good point. How the hell would the bowlers be unaware the ball had been tampered with, even if subtly? It's their tool, they know it intimately, & know exactly how it feels in the hand (No dirty innuendo intended).
Considering that point, it really does make it all the more unbelievable that no one except those 3 knew about it.
This is something that keeps going round and round in my head when I think about this whole fiasco.
If we're to believe the official line of events - that pushed forward by CA, Lehmann, and everyone interviewed - bar Warner, it goes down something like this: Warner, the previous designated 'ball shiner', for whatever reason, decides to hatch a plan with newbie Bancroft to scuff the ball with sandpaper. Smith overhears them talking, but decides he doesn't want to know (based on leaked comments). Warner and Bancroft go ahead with their plan, but are sprung by the cameramen. The clueless Lehmann radios to Handscomb to figure out wtf is going on. Bancroft lies to the umpires, and presumably, Smith too, with the black cloth. Later, when challenged, they may or may not tell Smith it's tape as opposed to sandpaper, which in turn leads him to reveal this at the press conference that the leadership group decided to make sandpaper from tape and dirt and that it was a desperate move that they'll never repeat. Maybe Smith believes this is the best way out, as daft as it is, while Lehmann stays silent. In the wash, it turns out it was a plan hatched by Warner and Bancroft, tacitly approved by Smith, with no knowledge by the other leadership group members nor the coach. Then it turns out to be sandpaper, meaning Smith has either deliberately or inadvertently lied (unless someone has a link to coverage clarifying, it seems like Smith could just have taken Warner and Bancroft at face value about it being tape if he didn't know the ins and outs) about the whole ordeal resulting in his CA ban along with Warner and Bancroft. Lehmann, the clueless coach, tried to get to the bottom of this shocking turn of events during the break and at end of day.
However, there's the Warner line of events, which could be him trying to cover his arse, or the truth in the face of other people trying to cover their arse. Warner, the designated ball shiner, has been wearing hand strapping for yonks, supposedly due to an injury. perhaps some of that brown plaster on his thumb is actually sandpaper painted to look that way, and he uses it to rough the ball up. Everyone may be in on this, from the bowlers to captain to coach. But now the heat is too much and eyes are on him, coupled with the fact they're just not getting that reverse swing. So he has to step the game up, but he can't change his MO of the taped hand, and introduce something else, so he enlists Bancroft and the fluro sandpaper to try and get better results. The leadership group - all of them - discuss the plan and approve it, and it goes ahead. The method they had been using for years wasn't going to win them the series, which is already at a boiling point, so they need to up the game. It all falls apart, but no one wants to be implicated. Perhaps Smith told the truth of who was involved at the conference, i.e. Starc, Lyon etc. but they baulked at the fact they would be dragged through the mud, so denied it as much as possible. Suddenly the only people possibly involved are those obviously involved and who have admitted to it - Warner, Smith and Bancroft. Warner knows it runs deeper, it's been happening longer, and he doesn't want to be the fall guy for a team full of accomplices.
I mean, if you were CA and you had to do damage control and discipline players, you'd go with the former because it means three bodies to bury - the latter is much messier. Personally, the answer probably lies somewhere in between. Maybe Warner's been tampering with the ball this whole time and the bowling unit has just said "whatever it is you're doing, don't tell us and don't get caught, so long as it works" and they've been happy to play along. Maybe Lehmann does know, and has been trying to push the line as much as possible considering it's an open secret that every team has their methods to get reverse swing. Australia seems to have been obsessed ever since '05, in catching up to the rest of the world in getting reverse. It's all messy and muddy and I think if Smith had denied it entirely, it might've just been Warner and Bancroft on the chopping block. The "change in culture" that Lehmann will try and effect may take 6 months before he retires and says "job done - next guys go" in a bid to save face without CA having jettisoned half the setup. Maybe that desire to change is genuine, or maybe it's more BS. The time for that change would've been the Phil Hughes incident, much like it was with NZ. Australia have a thing about winning, and then slaying the people responsible when they don't. So long as they win, the methods must be fine - just don't get caught.
