Australian Test captain Pat Cummins hit back at former teammate Usman Khawaja on Friday labelling claims that the entire playing XI knew about sandpaper use during the 2018 Cape Town Test as 100 percent wrong and complete nonsense.
Addressing reporters during a press conference at Cricket Central in Sydney, Cummins rejected accusations from Khawaja’s recently published autobiography, Sabr, that a premeditated conspiracy involved the broader team. The controversy stems from the March 2018 series against South Africa, where opener Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball during the third Test at Newlands.
Australia used sandpaper to tamper with the ball in a Test match before the infamous Cape Town scandal in 2018, Usman Khawaja is to reveal.@NHoultCricket reports on the revelations that could reopen one of cricket’s biggest cheating scandals ⬇️https://t.co/CIJI8PFgXu pic.twitter.com/hUC4gc4nTf
The latest revelations in Khawaja’s book follow a career during which he and Cummins played 56 Test matches together after Cummins debuted in 2011 while Khawaja was in the playing XI. Khawaja retired from international Cricket in January. Former Australia captain Michael Clarke had previously criticized Cummins for remaining silent on the matter, demanding to know what truly happened and prompting the press conference called by Cummins.
In his autobiography, Khawaja claimed that a similar sandpaper practice occurred during the preceding Test match at St George’s Park in Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) to generate reverse swing before the Newlands scandal broke.
Khawaja also said that despite sitting right next to Bancroft in the dressing room during the investigation, the integrity officers never interviewed him. Former head of integrity Iain Roy and team performance manager Pat Howard led the original 2018 interviews that resulted in suspensions for Steve Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft.
The Australian skipper acknowledged that the 2018 squad operated under a hardline mindset to win at all costs and harbored internal divisions, but maintained there was no team meeting or masterplan to alter the ball illegally. He expressed surprise that Khawaja’s book admitted to warning Bancroft to be careful while handling the sandpaper during the match.
There was no major plan to use illegal methods to reverse swing the ball. There was no big plan. There was no team meeting. The bowlers hadn’t said that this had to be done, Cummins said, according to Cricinfo.
Cummins added that Khawaja was a friend, but said that friendship does not mean being careless about another person’s life and reputation. Commenting further on the timing and nature of the assertions, Cummins said that if Khawaja had known about the actions at the time, he was in a position to stop it.
The latest assertions contrast with a joint statement issued in 2021 by Cummins alongside fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon, in which they denied any prior awareness of foreign objects being brought onto the field. Starc reaffirmed his stance following the book’s release, noting that his recollection has not changed after eight years, according to India TV Hindi.
Original sanctions in 2018 saw then-captain Steve Smith and vice-captain Warner suspended for 12 months, while Bancroft received a nine-month ban. Warner also faced a lifetime leadership ban which was later lifted in 2024.
Earlier coverage: Pat Cummins Dismisses Usman Khawaja's 2018 Ball-Tampering Claims
