Saker Urged Smith and Bancroft to Keep Quiet About Sandpaper Gate Incident

A new grimy detail about the sandpaper gate incident is emerging every day. After the revelations and accusations of Usman Khawaja, the non-denial of David Warner, the outright rejection of Mitchell Starc, Sydney Morning Herald has reported that the coach Khawaja has repeatedly referred to in the scandal was then bowling coach David Saker. The newspaper says: “According to tour sources, he urged Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft not to reveal the nature of the yellow object that had been taken onto the field at Newlands at their media conference after play on the day the scandal took off.” “You can’t say sandpaper,” Saker is alleged to have said repeatedly,” it adds. Though Khawaja had refrained from naming Saker in his book, there are multiple references of a coach. “With a smile on his face, he said, ‘Bangers [Bancroft], whatever you’re doing, we need more of it. It’s wet out there – we just need more of it,’” Khawaja wrote. “Then I saw Bangers pick up a piece of sandpaper and put it in his pocket. The coach gave both me and Cameron a wry smile of satisfaction and walked away.” ALSO READ | Cummins invites media to training to address Khawaja’s tampering ‘allegations’ In another reference, Khawaja has written about the coach telling the bowlers: “Guys, I don’t care what happens, but Test cricketers are too good against the straight ball. We need to get the ball shifting when it gets old. I don’t care what you have to do, or how, but we need to get it moving in the air. That’s the only chance we have.” While Saker has made a non-disclosure agreement with CA after leaving the organisation in February 2019, he did write about the incident in a column for Sydney Morning Herald. “There were a lot of people to blame. It could have been me to blame, it could have been someone else. It could have been stopped and it wasn’t, which is unfortunate,” Saker wrote. “You could point your finger at me, you could point your finger at ‘Boof’ [then coach Darren Lehmann], you could point it at other people, of course you could. We all know that we made a monumental mistake. The gravity wasn’t as plain until it all came out.” Meanwhile, T20 captain Mitchell Marsh, who was part of the tour, deflected the question in Perth, before the ODI against England. “Look, there’s obviously been a lot of noise around this week, and I respect that certain people have told their stories, but I’m not here to share mine today,” he said. “I know that might sound weird, but it’s a big week for us, and it’s an important time for this one-day group, and my sole focus has been on preparing for tomorrow. My honest answer is because I’ve personally moved on, I respect that others probably haven’t, but I have, and I hope that’s respected,” he added.