The glamorous girlfriend of Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft has been targeted with vile online attacks after her boyfriend confessed to ball tampering in a scandal that’s rocked the sporting world.
Caitlin Paris has been inundated with abusive messages on social media in the wake of her boyfriend being caught using sticky tape’ to alter the condition of the ball.
Bancroft, 25, was spotted hiding tape in his pocket which he hoped would catch dirt and aid in roughing one side of the ball to help Australia’s bowlers.
For his pivotal role in the cheating scandal, the Western Australian star was fined and given a demerit point penalty – but Ms Paris, 21, has also paid a price, being slammed by online commenters who have labelled her and Bancroft: ‘F***ing filthy humans’.
Caitlin Paris (left), the glamorous girlfriend of Australian cricketer Cameron Bancroft (right), is being targeted by vile trolls over her boyfriend’s role in the ongoing ball-tampering scandal
Ms Paris, a retail assistant with clothing giant Kookai, has been inundated with abuse on social media in the wake of Bancroft being caught using ‘sticky tape’ to alter the condition of the ball
The abuse began to flood in to the comments of Ms Paris’ Instagram almost as soon as the scandal broke on Sunday morning Australian time.
‘Your boy has disgraced your country. Cheater!’ wrote one commenter.
‘The day cricket Australia died. What a shame. How does it feel to be the girlfriend of a cheat?’ another posted below an image of Bancroft receiving his Baggy Green cap.
‘Look at these f***ing filthy humans,’ read another vile comment.
‘Disgusting photo, remove it. Cheater. Disgrace to cricket,’ wrote one follower.
Friends of Ms Paris, who is a Perth-based retail assistant with clothing giant Kookai, rushed to her defence on Instagram.
Bancroft’s social media feed has also been flooded with abusive comments from his 16,000 followers in the days since the scandal broke.
The abuse towards Ms Paris comes amid claims by a current Australian cricketer that it may have been Bancroft’s decision alone to illegally use the yellow tape.
Bancroft’s attempt to scuff the ball after lunch on day three of the third Test in Cape Town was followed by a claim from captain Steve Smith that he and ‘the leadership group’ had given the green light to the ploy.
As the ball-tampering row escalates, Moises Henriques – a long-time teammate of both Smith and Warner – said he believes the skipper wasn’t to blame.
Abuse (pictured) flooded in to the comments of Ms Paris’ Instagram images almost as soon as the scandal broke on Sunday morning, Australian time
Bancroft (right), 25, was caught hiding yellow tape in his pocket that he hoped would catch dirt and aid in roughing one side of the red cricket ball – as a result, causing it to reverse swing
In a post match press conference, Steve Smith (right) admitted he and ‘leadership group’ gave Bancroft (left) the green light to ‘cheat’
Henriques took to Twitter to suggest that Smith was trying to protect Bancroft when he admitted to the world in a press conference he had orchestrated the cheating.
The NSW star all-rounder said ’10 minutes of panic’ at the end of day’s play may have resulted in a spur of the moment decision which has left Smith’s reputation in tatters.
‘In my uneducated opinion, I dare say there was never a senior players meeting to discuss cheating. Smith made that up to take the heat off a young Cameron Bancroft not realising the outrage that would follow,’ Henriques Tweeted.
Henriques, who has played four Test matches and 11 ODI’s for Australia, added other players may have known about the plan, but it was unlikely it was contrived by the leadership group.
‘Not saying no one was aware of Cameron doing it, just highly doubt there was a ”senior players meeting” to decide to cheat,’ he wrote.
It comes as current player Moises Henriques (pictured with Dave Warner), claimed that other players may have known about the plans to cheat and it was unlikely only the leadership group
Henriques, who has played four Test matches and 11 ODI’s for Australia, took to Twitter to share his theory on Monday night
Henriques told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday he had been expressing his opinion with his tweets and not stating facts
‘I think it was the captain attempting to protect a young player. They had 10 mins of panic between end of play & press conference.’
Henriques told Daily Mail Australia on Tuesday he had been expressing his opinion with his tweets and not stating facts.
‘I haven’t spoken to anyone [in South Africa], but Smith is a good person and would never straight out ask anyone to do that,’ he said.
Cricket Australia CEO James Sutherland will travel to Johannesburg and meet with senior officials before discussing the likely punishments with CA’s board.
Among the expected punishments are the sacking of coach Darren Lehmann and lengthy suspensions for Bancroft, Smith and Dave Warner.