Claims revive that whole Australia team knew of 2018 ball tampering
ITV News reported renewed claims that Australia's whole cricket team knew about the 2018 ball tampering scandal, in which sandpaper was used against South Africa.
How it was covered
- ITV was the only channel found covering it, concentrating on renewed claims the whole Australia team knew of sandpaper tampering.
- Channel 5, BBC News, BBC One, BBC Two, Channel 4, GB News and Sky News: not found in tracked broadcasts.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story. Facts only one channel reported are attributed to it.
ITV News reported that one of the biggest scandals in top-level international cricket had returned to trouble Australia. The broadcaster said Australia are England's Ashes opponents next summer.
ITV News reported that the scandal dates from 2018, when Australia was accused of cheating in a Test series against South Africa by using sandpaper to tamper with the ball. According to the report, investigators at the time believed claims that only a handful of players were involved.
The report said it was now alleged that the whole Australia team knew about the tampering. ITV News also reported that one player was filmed using sandpaper hidden in his cricket whites.
ITV News framed the episode as damaging for a sport where conduct is meant to come first, describing it as not Australia's finest hour.
Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, grouped by how many channels reported each one. Select a dot to see the source excerpt.
| Claim |  |
|---|---|
| Only on one channel | |
| A player was filmed using sandpaper concealed in his cricket whites during the 2018 ball-tampering incident. | |
| It was alleged that the entire Australia cricket team knew about the 2018 ball-tampering incident. | |
| The 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal has returned to public attention. | |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
ITV1 treated the story as a major scandal returning to haunt Australia before the Ashes. Its tone was serious and moralising, stressing that conduct comes first in cricket. The segment gave no player names and no detail on who made the new allegations.
- “one of the biggest scandals ever to hit top level international cricket has tonight come back to haunt Australia”
- “now it's being alleged the whole team knew”
- “One player was filmed using sandpaper hidden in his cricket whites”
Broadcast Timeline
News broadcasts tracked for this story, in time order.