Warner Calls 2018 Ball-Tampering Probe a Cover-Up as Cricket Row Escalates

Former Australia opener David Warner on Saturday accused Cricket Australia of covering up the truth about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, deepening a public dispute among some of the country’s best-known players. Cricket Australia said it will not reopen its investigation, according to Al Jazeera.

The row was reignited this week when Usman Khawaja released an autobiography that, Al Jazeera reported, alleges the entire team knew about the plan to rough up the ball with sandpaper during the third Test in Cape Town.

What Warner and Khawaja allege

Warner, who was banned for a year over his part in the incident, posted his criticism on Instagram. He said that, as far as he is aware, Cricket Australia did not interview bowlers Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon during its 2018 inquiry. If that is correct, he asked, how can the organization argue that the bowlers did not know?

In Warner’s telling, the governing body appeared to decide early on whom to blame, carried out a poor investigation to fit that outcome and now wants to preserve a false story. He said the whole affair “stinks of a cover-up,” Al Jazeera reported.

Warner also criticized Test captain Pat Cummins, accusing him of throwing his close friend Khawaja “under the bus.” Khawaja’s book makes the broader claim that the whole team was aware of the plot, according to Al Jazeera.

What Cricket Australia and the bowlers say

Cricket Australia’s original probe concluded that only then-captain Steve Smith, his deputy Warner and Cameron Bancroft knew about the plan. All three were sent home from South Africa in disgrace, Al Jazeera reported.

Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon and Cummins issued a public statement in 2021 denying they were aware of the plan. On Friday, Cummins held a lengthy news conference in which he dismissed Khawaja’s latest claims as “100 percent wrong,” according to Al Jazeera. Starc also said this week that the bowlers were not aware of things being taken onto the field. Hazlewood and Lyon have not yet commented.

In a statement on Saturday, a Cricket Australia spokesperson said all players had been given the chance to speak during the initial investigation. They added that players have been free to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since, and that the organization respects the right of every current and former player to give their own account.

What’s at stake

The disagreement goes to the heart of how one of cricket’s most damaging scandals is remembered. The question is whether three players alone were responsible, as Cricket Australia concluded, or whether others in the team knew, as Khawaja’s book alleges. Warner’s comments add a second layer, challenging how thorough the original inquiry was.

The dispute has also set former and current teammates against each other. Al Jazeera described it as a row that has torn apart the sport, with Warner and Khawaja on one side and Cummins and the bowlers who denied knowledge on the other.

What happens next

Cricket Australia has ruled out reopening its investigation. That leaves the competing accounts without a formal review for now. Hazlewood and Lyon, who have not spoken publicly during the latest round of claims, are the two players still to respond.

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Around Prague, based on reporting by ABC News (Australia), Al Jazeera

Cover photo: paddynapper / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 2.0, cropped