Australia captain Pat Cummins has firmly rejected Usman Khawaja’s claim that the entire Australian team was aware of the sandpaper ball-tampering during the 2018 Cape Town Test. Speaking at a 68-minute press conference at Cricket Central in Sydney, Cummins called Khawaja’s assertions “100% wrong” and “complete and utter nonsense,” directly challenging the version of events presented in Khawaja’s recently published autobiography.
Khawaja alleged that all 11 players in the Australian XI knew about the use of sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball, and that two players refused to accept collective responsibility for the incident. Cummins denied these claims outright, saying, “When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he’s 100% wrong. I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years, I did not know that was happening.”
Cummins went further to dispute Khawaja’s suggestion that he and others were architects of the ball-tampering scheme. “That’s complete and utter nonsense. I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper,” Cummins said. “That’s not the Usman that I know. It’s not the Usman that I think, or that has been part of a team that’s helped rebuild this Australian cricket culture over the last eight years.”
The captain expressed disappointment at Khawaja’s account, which he felt was careless with the reputations of those involved. “In his book, Ussie has been casual with my life and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket,” Cummins said. He added that he supports Khawaja’s right to tell his story but insisted that players must be accountable for their words.
Cummins also addressed the idea that there was a master plan behind the ball-tampering episode. While acknowledging there had been a “win-at-all-costs mentality” within the team in 2018 and describing an “ugly underbelly” with too many factions, Cummins rejected any notion of a coordinated illegal strategy. “There was no master-plan around using illegal methods,” he said. “People assume you’ve gone from very legal methods to suddenly taking sandpaper, and there must have been some huge master-plan. The truth, that is not the case.”
He explained that the progression to illicit ball-tampering was more gradual and not the result of a team meeting or a deliberate decision by the bowlers. “There’s no grand plan. There’s no team meeting. There’s no bowlers saying this is what must happen,” Cummins said.
Khawaja also claimed sandpaper was used during the Port Elizabeth Test, known now as the Gqeberha Test, before the Cape Town match. Cummins said this was new information for him and he was surprised by the allegation. “That was news to me this week. I had no idea. Even chatting a couple of guys, that was a revelation to us,” he said. Cummins said he did not recall the ball being handed out near the boundary before a session, as Khawaja suggested, noting that umpires typically give the ball to players in the middle of the field now.
On whether he had ever witnessed ball-tampering during his career, Cummins recalled a Sheffield Shield match early on when a senior New South Wales batter used a bottle cap to alter the ball. He refused to name the player but said the umpires promptly addressed the issue. “That was the one time I’ve seen something illegal out there. I was looking at it going, ‘Wow, that’s not okay.’ It was dealt with. The umpires knew it as well. They called him out and said, ‘You’ve got to stop that right now,’” Cummins said.
Regarding Khawaja’s claim that two players refused to take collective responsibility for the ball-tampering incident, Cummins said he did not remember any such discussion. “I don’t remember any conversation around collective responsibility,” he said. “I don’t remember any team meeting where he stood up and said, ‘Let’s all own this as a team.’ So then, to follow on, no, I’ve got no idea who those two people would be because I don’t remember ever being asked or having a conversation about it. I’ve spoken to quite a few other people, and [they are] exactly the same.”
Cummins confirmed he was interviewed during Cricket Australia’s investigation into the scandal but did not elaborate further on the inquiry. He also spoke about his current relationship with Steve Smith and the punishments handed to Smith, David Warner, and Cameron Bancroft, but the focus of his remarks remained on correcting the record regarding the team’s knowledge and involvement.
The press conference offered a detailed rebuttal to Khawaja’s claims, with Cummins defending the integrity of the team members who were not directly involved in the scandal and emphasising the complexities behind the events of 2018.
According to Yahoo Sports.
