Sutherland famously turned off his television at his Melbourne home before the broadcast showed evidence that Bancroft had used a foreign object – later revealed to be sandpaper – to attempt to alter the ball’s condition.

It meant that the administrator was unaware of the players’ attempt to weather the storm by not revealing the whole truth during a press conference, claiming it was tape rather than sandpaper and insisting the “leadership group” devised the plan, rather than Warner, the vice-captain. All three were subsequently banned via the CA code of conduct, Smith and Warner for twelve months, and Bancroft nine.

“[But] I think in some ways the issues of Cape Town were a different thing altogether, it wasn’t necessarily a confrontation between two players, that was a premeditated WTF moment that shocked us all. Part of the extent of my disappointment around Cape Town is heightened by what happened earlier in the series, and my feeling that there were warning signals.

”There were lots of other things going on, and some disgraceful behaviour during the Port Elizabeth Test, provocation by opposition fans but also administrators from the opposition team.