“Complete and utter nonsense. » That’s how Australia captain Pat Cummins responded to Usman Khawaja’s claim that the entire team was involved in the ball-tampering plot known as ‘Sandpapergate’ and shook it off. cricket in 2018.
Cummins called an extraordinary press conference on Friday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, hours before Australia’s home season opener against England in Perth, to respond to the allegations published this week in his newspaper. autobiography of a long-time teammate.
He opened the packed news conference by saying he was prepared to stay and answer questions all day if necessary, because he wanted to draw a line under this sad saga. Based on a later response from David Warner, this is unlikely.
Immediately following a Cricket Australia investigation into the cheating attempt, three players received unprecedented bans: Steve Smith and Warner, then captain and vice-captain, for 12 months; Cameron Bancroft, who was filmed using sandpaper on the ball, for nine months.
The episode remained so controversial that even eight years later, the innuendo and acrimony will mean that Cummins’ comments during a 70-minute live stand-up will not end questions about who knew what and when.
Cummins, who was part of the bowling attack in that Test in Cape Town against South Africa, accused Khawaja of being “casual” and “flippant” in suggesting that everyone in the dressing room knew about the sandpaper plot.
“When he says we all knew, if he means we knew sandpaper was being used on the field, he is 100 percent wrong,” Cummins said. “I’ve always said it for the last eight years. I didn’t know this was happening.
“But I think Usman is actually saying much more serious things than that. He is saying that I and others were the architects of a scheme to tamper with sandpaper. This is complete nonsense.”
Khawaja’s claim
Khawaja said he published his account of the episode in an effort to support the three players who he said had become the team’s scapegoats.
He benefited from public support from Warner, who responded on social media that Cricket Australia’s investigation at the time had been rushed and botched. Warner and Smith resumed their international careers in 2019 and have remained key players for Australia. Warner retired in 2024 and Smith is still with the team.
Warner: Khawaja thrown under the bus
In a live preview on a television commentary panel for Kayo Cricket ahead of the Australia-England ODI, Warner said he felt Cummins “threw Uzzy under the bus and I’m very disappointed in that”.
Warner said players who were on the team in 2018 will have different opinions.
“At the end of the day, Pat won’t agree with me, I won’t agree with him,” Warner said. “He obviously spoke about what he thought of Uzzy’s book, but I support Uzzy and his comments.
“For me, it’s about accepting the truth, and I just don’t think it’s going to stop.”
Team rotation
Management has been overhauled. Head coach Darren Lehmann was replaced after the South Africa series by Justin Langer, who was succeeded by Andrew McDonald in 2022. Veteran wicketkeeper Tim Paine replaced Smith as Test captain before Cummins took over in 2021.
Cricket Australia has a new chief executive, Todd Greenberg, who has ruled out reopening the Sandpapergate investigation.
The long-standing bowling group, including Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, in 2021 insinuation rejected that everyone was in on the conspiracy to use sandpaper to help make the ball “flip” – or swing unconventionally through the air. Cummins and Starc publicly confirmed their version of events again this week.
But in his autobiography, Khawaja said he was sitting next to Bancroft in the dressing room when he heard of a plot to tamper with the ball and urged caution.
Cummins on Khawaja
Cummins, who was 13 Tests into his international career at the Cape Town match, on Friday turned the spotlight on Khawaja, who retired from international cricket in January after his 88th Test match.
“I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman had admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper,” Cummins said, adding that Khawaja had been instrumental in helping the Australian team overturn what he described as a sometimes ugly culture of winning at all costs.
“That’s not the Usman I know. That’s not the Usman that I think was part of a team that helped rebuild Australian cricket culture over the last eight years,” he said. “And the one who would have stopped this from happening right then and there.”
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