David Warner convinced me to tamper with the ball, says Cameron Bancroft

Disgraced Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft said that it was David Warner who encouraged him to tamper with the ball during Australia’s test match against South Africa in Newlands in March this year.

Bancroft further said that he made this decision after in order to “fit in and feel valued”.

Bancroft was handed a nine-month ban as opposed to the 12-month suspensions received by Steve Smith and Warner.

In an interaction with Fox Sports, he said, ” Dave suggested to me to carry the action out on the ball.

“I didn’t know any better. As simple as that. There came a pretty big cost for the mistake.”

“The decision was based around my values, what I valued at the time and I valued fitting in – you hope that fitting in earns you respect,” he added.

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An enquiry by Cricket Australia revealed that Warner had, ‘ ‘developed a plan to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball’ and ‘instructed a junior player to carry out a plan to take steps to attempt to artificially alter the condition of the ball using sandpaper’.

The then vice-captain had claimed full responsibility for the incident that shook Australian cricket to the core.

Bancroft, whose ban ends on December 29 and would return to the Big Bash League for the Perth Scorchers had stated last week that he was almost about to pull down the curtains on his cricketing career.

I had a choice and I made a massive mistake and that is what is in my control,” he said, and admitted he often wondered what would have happened if he had said no, and concluded it was a no-win situation.

“I would have gone to bed and I would have felt like I had let everybody down. I would have felt like I had let the team down. I would have left like I had hurt our chances to win the game of cricket,” he said.