Clearing their stance in an open letter addressed to the Australian public on Tuesday (May 18), Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon - the four primary bowlers to feature in the ill-fated sandpaper-gate scandal that came to light during the Newlands Test in 2018 in South Africa - have rebutted recent charges that the bowling group was in full knowledge of the ball being tampered with.
THE SAGA GOES ON ...
Newlands bowling quartet wants an end to 'rumour-mongering and innuendo'
"It was wrong and it should never have happened" - Joint statement from Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon. © Getty
"We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands," the bowlers wrote in a joint statement, requesting the need to put an end to baseless "rumour-mongering and innuendo".
"And those who, despite the absence of evidence, insist that 'we must have known' about the use of a foreign substance simply because we are bowlers, we say this: The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it because there was no sign of damage," the statement added.
In a recent interview to The Guardian, Cameron Bancroft, one of the three Australian players banned as a result of the saga, said that since his actions directly benefitted the bowling group, the awareness around his