According to BBC, the 37-year-old wicketkeeper wrote in his autobiography: “I was standing at the bowlers’ end in the next Test when a shot came up on the screen of a South African player at mid-off having a huge crack at the ball. We went to the umpires about it, which might seem a bit poor, but we’d been slaughtered and were convinced they’d been up to it since the first Test.But the footage got lost. As it would.
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CSA responded saying Paine’s allegation “could have been useful had it come out at the time, when the rot in the game was being rooted out.”
It added that the two boards had engaged on the matter. “CSA and Cricket Australia have engaged on this matter and the necessary sanctions levied at the time. Both bodies have reiterated their commitment to a clean game, pampered with excellence, grit and above reproach. While CSA respects the rights of individuals to air their opinions, it also calls upon all those who love the game to come forward with any information of misconduct on the field at the appropriate time and not wait for time to elapse.
“This will assist the relevant authorities within the system to investigate and appropriate relevant sanctions should they be required.”
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Cricket Australia declined to comment in the BBC piece.
Paine denied the scandal was common knowledge in the dressing room but said the team should have taken responsibility as a whole.
“Everyone was a part of it to some degree. Would it have worked out better for those three players if we had owned it as a team? I think it would have,” he was quoted as having written.
