How an 'absolute fluke' exposed sandpapergate scandal

How a team of South Africa camera operators discovered Australia's sandpapergate scandal as it happened. According to the man who helped catch them, it was blind luck. Sandpapergate, the scandal that engulfed Australia eight years ago, was blatant cheating played out in real time on live television to a global audience. As the Aussies prepare for their first Test series in South Africa since the ball-tampering controversy in Cape Town, the director of the TV coverage that day admits serendipity took down Steve Smith and co. "The way the Australians were caught was an absolute fluke," Alvin Naicker, in charge of SuperSport's live broadcast from Newlands, tells BBC Sport. That the "leadership group" of the Australian team hatched their plan during the lunch break on that Saturday afternoon in March 2018; that an alert camera operator lingered on Cameron Bancroft when others would have turned their attention elsewhere; that the big-screen controller showed in the ground what was also being broadcast to millions around the world.

In understanding how Bancroft was rumbled, a little knowledge of how live cricket is shown on TV is helpful. "Coverage of rugby and football is very coordinated. It's camera one and two, then when the ball is dead you tell the story with close-up shots," explains Naicker, a highly respected and popular figure in