'An absolute fluke': TV director who caught Sandpapergate reveals how Cameron Bancroft was rumbled

Eight years after the scandal that engulfed Australian cricket, the man who helped catch them insists it came down to blind luck. Sandpapergate — blatant cheating played out in real time to a global television audience in Cape Town — was exposed, according to the director of the day's live coverage, by nothing more than a series of serendipitous events.

"The way the Australians were caught was an absolute fluke," Alvin Naicker, who was in charge of SuperSport's broadcast from Newlands on that Saturday afternoon in March 2018, tells BBC Sport. Not one fluke, but several: that the Australian "leadership group" hatched their plan during the lunch break of the third Test; that an alert camera operator lingered on Cameron Bancroft when others would have moved on; and that the big-screen controller at the ground aired the same footage at just the wrong moment for the Australians.

How the TV coverage worked

Naicker, a veteran of more than 30 years in the television industry, explains that cricket's dead time makes its coverage far more story-driven than rugby or football. "Coverage of rugby and football is very coordinated. It's camera one and two, then when the ball is dead you tell the story with close-up shots," he says. "Because cricket has so much dead time, there is a lot more storytelling. There are between 80 and 100 people coming together and putting the story together in a matter of seconds, coordinated by the director."

At the time, SuperSport were not actively looking for cheating, despite the bad-tempered build-up to the series. Captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and opener Bancroft later admitted they plotted the ball-tampering scheme during the lunch break on the third day. Reverse swing had been a flashpoint throughout: Warner clashed with Quinton de Kock in the first Test in Durban, and Smith was involved in an altercation with Kagiso Rabada in the second.

"No one mentioned anything to me," says Naicker. "The first Test in Durban spiralled out of control in terms of behaviour, then in Port Elizabeth for the second Test, there were still some fireworks going on. We still didn't understand."

Caught in the act

According to reports written live at the time, the ball began reversing 35 overs into the South Africa second innings. In the 43rd over, Bancroft was caught in the act.

"The ball went to the wicketkeeper, then to Bancroft and he was shining the ball," says Naicker. "First it was on his pants, then the next ball, the cameraman happened to stay on Bancroft because he was not shining the ball on his pants, but he was rubbing the ball on his palm."

"When he threw the ball on, he put his hand in his pocket. The cameraman — and these are big, big lens cameras — he zoomed into his pocket. The slow-mo operator looked at it, spooled it back and forth, then zoomed in and could see the yellow spot."

Bancroft's work on the ball was not shown live, but as a replay later in the over. Inside Newlands, the big-screen operator — working independently of Naicker — showed the same footage between deliveries. "It was quite fortunate that when we showed it, it was in between deliveries, not at the end of the over," Naicker explains. Bancroft later admitted he "panicked" when he saw himself on the big screen — and comically hid the sandpaper inside his trousers.

"When Bancroft looked up at the screen and saw it, he removed it and put it in his jocks," says Naicker. "The cameraman recorded it. It still wasn't live, we played a replay."

Bancroft, with Smith beside him, was challenged by on-field umpires Richard Illingworth and Nigel Llong. He turned out his pockets, revealing only a black bag for his sunglasses. The ball was not changed and Australia were not penalised. Play continued — but SuperSport knew exactly what had happened.

An entire team told the story

Naicker describes how Australia coach Darren Lehmann was on the walkie-talkie to 12th man Peter Handscomb, who came onto the field before the umpires became involved. "An entire team of cameramen played their part," he says. "There was one following the ball, one on Handscomb, one on Lehmann, one on Warner. They all told a story that I happened to put together with this great team of replay operators."

Naicker had no hesitation in airing what his team had captured. "It was a natural instinct. It wasn't something I previewed with 10 other people to say 'What do you think, should we show it?' I just went for it."

His phone soon went "WhatsApping off the hook" with requests from around the world to show the footage again and again. The replays drew the attention of third umpire Ian Gould, who had a direct line to the director. "There was a moment when he asked me 'I think that's enough now, do you mind not showing it?'", Naicker recalls. "My response to him was 'I'm quite comfortable in what I'm doing in my job and I think you should do yours'."

The aftermath

When play ended, Naicker and his team went to a bar and watched Bancroft and Smith confess at a news conference. Both men, along with Warner, were sent home from the tour and handed lengthy bans. On his return to Australia, Smith broke down in a tearful press address in Sydney.

"It became disheartening for us," says Naicker. "The most difficult thing for me was to see Steve Smith shedding tears. That was not nice and never the intention. You have to have some emotion for those guys." SuperSport's access to the Australia camp was heavily restricted for the fourth Test, and Naicker's team even faced allegations of bias — that they were part of an orchestrated plot against the tourists. Naicker maintains he would have pounced on the same "fluke" had it been South Africa caught cheating.

He points to a conversation with Stuart Broad — who faced tampering accusations of his own for treading on the ball during a 2010 tour of South Africa and is now a commentator — as evidence of how much the game has changed. "When you played the Broad footage in ultra-motion, it looked worse than it was," Naicker says. "He said he never realised how much control and power the TV crew has until he worked in the commentary box. I said that's what you have to remind your team-mates. You can't hide any more in international cricket. There are too many cameras and technology around."