CA chief callsfor evidence of pre-Newlands tampering

SYDNEY: Kevin Roberts, the Cricket Australia (CA) chief executive, has called for anyone with evidence of the national team tampering with the ball prior to the Newlands Test to come forward.

Roberts also conceded that further revelations about the scandal 12 months ago would be damaging to the game.

Speaking at the Melbourne Press Club a year on from the Cape Town Test that saw Cameron Bancroft exposed for attempting to use sandpaper to tamper with the ball, as advised by David Warner and tacitly approved by Steven Smith, Roberts defended the swift investigation conducted by the former head of integrity Iain Roy.

Roberts also responded to the former CA Board director Mark Taylor's comments that the limitation of the probe to the Cape Town Test left a "grey area" around whether the Australians had tampered with the ball previously.

"There's no doubt that that would affect the way that cricket fans and the general public views cricket, that's for sure," Roberts said when asked whether further revelations would be damaging to cricket.

"I suppose we're dealing with the 'what is' rather than the 'what ifs'. We could jump at shadows, we could react to innuendo. If facts come to light we'll be addressing those, and if that means there's issues for us in the short term because we do the right thing then so be it, because it'll benefit the integrity and reputation of the sport that we love in the long term."

Warner and Smith, meanwhile, have been carefully managed in their comments on their way back to national representation after the bans, though it is believed that Warner in particular has been involved in discussions about writing an autobiography that would shed greater light on his part in the scandal and his role within the team.

"All current and former employees, like any organisation, have confidentiality obligations," Roberts said. "That's not CA being heavy handed, I'm sure people in the room here have had a look at your own employment agreements and clauses in there so there's nothing unusual about that. At the same time we don't want to control or muzzle people in cricket."

On the subject of the investigation conducted over 48 hours between the Cape Town and Johannesburg Tests at the end of the South Africa series last year, Roberts pointed out that there was time pressure created by the need to field a team in the final match, without knowing how many players would be implicated.

In contrast to earlier in the summer when he stated that the "thorough" investigation required no more probing, he called upon any member of the Australian cricket community with further evidence to come forward.