Cricket Australia's Piecemeal Investigation Not Good: Vaughan On Sandpapergate

Former England captain Michael Vaughan said that Cricket Australia should have done more in their initial investigation of the 2018 ball tampering scandal.

Australia's bowlers recently said in a joint statement that they were unaware of changes being brought to the ball during the infamous third Test against South Africa, after Cameron Bancroft indicated last week that they may have been aware of it as well.

"Not many former professionals I have spoken to believe something like that would be confined to just three people. There might be some in a dressing room who may not like it and disagree with a course of action, but say nothing because they do not want to go against the captain. I can see how that happens," Vaughan wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Ultimately, this shows what happens if you do a piecemeal investigation and leave questions unanswered. It will keep biting you on the backside and does not do anyone any good," Vaughan wrote.

The investigation ended with Steve Smith and David Warner being sacked as captain and vice-captain respectively and being handed one year bans from all forms of cricket. Bancroft, who was caught using sandpaper on the ball, was handed a nine-month ban. Vaughan said that he felt the bans were too extreme, but it is now difficult for Cricket Australia to retrospectively ban more players.

"Cricket Australia probably felt it looked into it properly and hoped everyone would move on. A lot of damage was done to Australian cricket's reputation and to those involved. I felt at the time the bans were too severe, and I can see why Cricket Australia would not want to go back over it. You cannot ban players retrospectively," he wrote.