Highlights Australian bowlers issued a joint statement on sandpaper gate on Tuesday Australian bowlers denied prior knowledge of 2018 ball-tampering incident Not convinced by the Australian bowlers' clarification in the 2018 ball-tampering episode, former captain Michael Clarke on Wednesday said the quartet missed a very important detail in an otherwise "smartly worded" joint statement -- their involvement was hinted at by a former teammate and not outsiders. Sticking to his stand that the bowlers, who were part of that team, were aware of the plot to tamper with the red cherry during the infamous Cape Town Test against South Africa, Clarke said their statement finds no mention of the incident's chief protagonist, Cameron Bancroft, and the Australian team's former bowling coach, David Saker.