The ball-tampering episode in the Cape Town Test last March was perhaps the most talked about topic in the cricketing world in 2018. Australia’s captain Steve Smith, vice captain David Warner and opening batsman Cameron Bancroft were accused, shamed and banned from playing cricket. Several changes were made to the top level of Australian cricket.
Crossing the Line, a 60-minute documentary produced by South African broadcaster SuperSport, traces the events that led to the ball-tampering during Australia’s four-Test series against South Africa in 2018.
The ball-tampering saga in the third Test overshadowed the off-field confrontation between David Warner and Quinton de Kock in the first Test in Durban, and Kagiso Rabada and Steve Smith’s heated on-field verbal exchange in the second in Port Elizabeth after the latter was dismissed.
Shaun Pollock, Graeme Smith, Michael Holding, and Shane Warne, who commentated during the series, chip in with their comments in the documentary.
“It’s a remarkable story to tell,” said the documentary’s producer Tyrone Bailey, “and viewers will discover that it’s far less about the cricket than the remarkable controversy that defined the series.”
Watch the documentary here:-