Cummins Rejects Khawaja's Sandpapergate Claims After 68-Minute News Conference

Australia captain Pat Cummins has again denied any role in the 2018 ball-tampering plot against South Africa, rejecting claims in Usman Khawaja's new autobiography, Al Jazeera reported. Cummins, who spoke to reporters in Sydney on Friday, called the allegation that he and others designed a sandpaper scheme “utter nonsense.” Former teammate David Warner then publicly sided with Khawaja.

The dispute has revived one of the biggest scandals in Australian cricket, known as “Sandpapergate,” eight years after it happened.

What Khawaja alleges

Khawaja, a former Australia batsman, said last weekend that every player in the team knew about the plan to roughen the ball with sandpaper so that it would swing. His autobiography was published on Tuesday. According to Al Jazeera, his comments prompted calls for a new investigation.

The scandal centered on the third Test in Cape Town, but Khawaja also claimed the tactic was used in the second Test at Port Elizabeth. He recalled that two players had rejected his call for the team to accept collective responsibility. He also wrote that his skin color and background had prevented him from becoming Australia captain.

What Cummins says

Cummins spoke for 68 minutes and took every question. He said that if Khawaja meant the players knew sandpaper was being taken onto the field, that was 100 percent wrong, and he said he has maintained this consistently for eight years. He said he had not known it was happening.

He said there was no master plan, no team meeting and no instruction from bowlers about what must be done. He added that he does not remember any conversation about collective responsibility and has no idea who the two players might be.

Cummins said the claim about skin color was the most serious thing he had read all week and that he could not disagree with it more. He also said he was shocked to learn that Khawaja had admitted telling Cameron Bancroft to be careful when using sandpaper, which he said did not fit the person he knows.

He described Khawaja as a friend but said friends should not be casual with each other's lives and reputations. Cummins said he had been advised that some of the claims were probably defamatory, but he will not take legal action. He said it was time to move on and that he would never discuss the ball-tampering incident again.

What others have said

Cummins and fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon denied in a 2021 statement that they knew of the plan. Darren Lehmann, then Australia's head coach, has also denied any knowledge. Former batting coach Graeme Hick called Khawaja's allegations “absolutely false.”

Warner, speaking in television commentary before a one-day international between Australia and England, said he stands by what Khawaja wrote and called it the truth. He said he felt for Khawaja and was disappointed that Cummins had, in his view, thrown Khawaja under the bus. Warner also said that he and the other two punished players had paid a heavy price.

Khawaja and Warner have both criticized the 2018 Cricket Australia investigation, which found three players solely responsible. Cummins said he took part in that review and was totally truthful. Steve Smith and Warner, then captain and vice-captain, were banned from elite cricket for a year, and Bancroft, who brought the sandpaper onto the field, received a nine-month suspension.

What's at stake

For cricket fans, the question is whether the official account of 2018 will be reopened. Earlier this week, the head of Cricket Australia ruled out another investigation. The two sides now disagree publicly about who knew what, and the current captain's credibility and relationships with former teammates are part of the argument. Cummins said he respected Khawaja's right to tell his story but felt the most serious allegations had to be answered.

Around Prague, based on reporting by Al Jazeera

Cover photo: SirWellsy99 / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0, cropped

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