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Former South Africa captain Pfaff du Plessis has revealed some heartbreaking revelations in his autobiography – Pfaff: Through Fire. It has shed some light on the events leading up to the 2018 ball-tampering scandal that led to a global uproar.
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Australia’s four-Test tour of South Africa in 2018 produced many memorable individual performances and close contests, but he is best remembered now for the ball-tampering scandal or as it is also known as the ‘Gate Sander’. The Australians have been accused of manipulating the ball with sandpaper allowing fast bowlers to make reverse swings.
Cameron Bancroft was filmed stuffing a piece of sandpaper into his pants which led to the reveal. Aside from Bancroft, then-Australian captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner were both banned for lengthy periods from all forms of cricket.
“During the first Test in Durban, the Australian pace attack had made the ball insanely reflective,” du Plessis wrote in his book.
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Mitchell Stark took nine wickets, and although I consider him one of the best reverse bowlers I have ever seen or encountered, his Durban deliveries were unplayable. He would come around the wicket with a badly sluggish ball and make it encircle us.
“Our balls had also reflected but not nearly as much as theirs. We suspected someone was grazing the ball too much for it to reflect hard, and watched the second Test at St George’s through binoculars, so that we could follow the ball closely while Australia scored.”
“When we noticed the ball was headed for David Warner so often – our changing room must have looked like a birdwatcher’s dugout as we stared intently through our binoculars. There was a distinct difference between the way Mitchell Stark got the ball in Test The first in Durban and the final exam in Johannesburg,” he wrote.
In an interview with BBCDu Plessis also claimed how Australia’s tactics also included bullying their opponents.
“Australia wanted to bully us. We had to stand up for ourselves. They badmouthed us that whole match but the way we fought back turned the series around.”
He also called Warner a “bully”.
“He was a bully. I don’t have time for a bully,” says du Plessis.
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