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Australian cricket rift over 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering and cover-up claims

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Summary

  • Usman Khawaja's autobiography Sabr says the entire Australia touring party knew of the 2018 sandpaper ball-tampering in Cape Town and Port Elizabeth.
  • Only David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft were sanctioned after Cricket Australia's 2018 investigation found the trio had prior knowledge.
  • David Warner alleges the 2018 investigation was shoddy and pre-determined, and says it stinks of a cover-up.
  • Former bowler Chadd Sayers says everyone in the team knew sandpaper was being used; Test captain Pat Cummins denies the bowlers knew.
  • Sources say the bowlers were interviewed in 2018; Cricket Australia says all players had the chance to speak and stands by its findings.

Reactions

  • Pat Cummins calls Khawaja's claim that he and others were architects of a tampering scheme complete and utter nonsense, and says Khawaja has been casual with people's lives and reputations.
  • David Warner writes on Instagram that Cricket Australia ran a shoddy investigation to serve a chosen blame, saying 'That stinks of a cover-up'.
  • Chadd Sayers says on the SEN broadcast, 'Everyone knew what was going on in South Africa in 2018'.
  • Darren Lehmann denies having personal knowledge of the sandpaper use and doubts all members of the touring party knew.
  • Greg Chappell urges Australia's past and present cricket stars to end their civil war over Sandpapergate, own their mistakes, and move on.
  • Cricket Australia says it remains comfortable with its integrity findings; a columnist argues Pat Cummins should end the saga with full disclosure of what players knew.

Timeline newest first

  1. Chadd Sayers says on the SEN broadcast ahead of Australia's one-day international in Adelaide that everyone knew what was going on in South Africa in 2018.
  2. Pat Cummins says at a press conference that the claim the bowlers knew sandpaper was going onto the field is 100 per cent wrong.
  3. David Warner doubles down on Instagram, saying Cricket Australia did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in 2018 and that it stinks of a cover-up.
  4. Sources connected to the bowling group say Nathan Lyon, Josh Hazlewood and Mitchell Starc were interviewed in the 2018 ball-tampering inquiry, and that Tim Paine was also interviewed.
  5. Cricket Australia says all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time and have had eight years to come forward with new evidence.
  6. David Warner says Pat Cummins threw Usman Khawaja under the bus and calls the 2018 investigation botched, with a pre-determined outcome.
  7. Mitchell Starc says players were heavily grilled through the process and his opinion and recollection have not changed from what he said in 2021.
  8. Greg Chappell urges Australian cricket's past and present stars to end their civil war over Sandpapergate, own their mistakes, and move on.
  9. Mitchell Starc reiterates his denial of knowledge of the third-Test sandpaper plan and adds a denial about knowledge of sandpaper in the second Test.
  10. Pat Cummins says on Australia's return to South Africa that all the investigations were done long ago and as a group they have moved on.
  11. Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg says he does not think anything can be gained from the renewed revelations.
  12. Usman Khawaja's autobiography Sabr is released, saying the whole Australia touring party knew of the 2018 sandpaper plot and that sandpaper was also used at Port Elizabeth.
  13. Khawaja says Cameron Bancroft first volunteered to use sandpaper in the second Test at Port Elizabeth and Steve Smith walked away from dressing-room discussions about tampering.
  14. Darren Lehmann denies having personal knowledge of sandpaper use before Cape Town and says he does not believe all touring party members would have known.
  15. Cricket Australia says all relevant information presented has been properly considered and it remains comfortable with the findings of its integrity process.

Sources newest first

  • Aussie quick says 'everyone knew' about sandpaper, as Warner doubles downabc.net.au· 6h

    An ABC Sport news article reports on a rift in Australian cricket over the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal: former quick Chadd Sayers claims everyone in the team knew sandpaper was being used, David Warner doubles down on Instagram accusing Cricket Australia of a cover-up, and Test captain Pat Cummins denies any knowledge and calls Usman Khawaja's memoir account nonsense. The article runs alongside a cricket score centre listing results and upcoming fixtures.

  • Cape Town inquiry spoke to all Aussie bowlers, ABC understandsabc.net.au· 30h

    ABC News reports that all four bowlers from Australia's 2018 Cape Town Test spoke to investigators in the ball-tampering inquiry, contradicting David Warner's social-media claims that Cricket Australia ran a botched, pre-determined investigation and never interviewed Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon. Sources and Pat Cummins back the interviews, while Usman Khawaja's new book says he was never spoken to despite sitting beside Cameron Bancroft, and Cricket Australia says all players had the chance to speak.

  • Australian cricket urged to stop 'eating itself' as Sandpapergate rolls onabc.net.au· 34h

    An AAP news article on abc.net.au reports Greg Chappell urging Australian cricket's past and present stars to end their civil war over Sandpapergate and "stop eating itself", saying the sport must own its mistakes and move on, though he doubts the 2018 Cape Town scandal will trump his own 1981 underarm controversy for 45 years. The article details Usman Khawaja's claims that everyone in the team bore responsibility for the 2018 tampering, Pat Cummins' rejection of them as "complete nonsense" and "probably defamatory", and David Warner's accusation that Cummins threw Khawaja under the bus.

  • Pat Cummins can end sandpaper saga with full disclosure of what players knew – not what they didn’t | Geoff Lemontheguardian.com· 3d

    Geoff Lemon's Guardian column revisits Cricket Australia's 2018 ball tampering sanctions from the South Africa tour, arguing that Usman Khawaja's book — which says tampering was a team-wide policy driven from the coaches down, and that David Warner, Mitchell Starc and others have backed — shows the official three-player account no longer holds. He writes that Australia's current captain Pat Cummins, though a minor figure in 2018, should end the saga with full disclosure of what players knew, since the old review's scope was fixed to shield everyone else and fudging only keeps the story alive.

  • ‘It was all of us’: Khawaja says entire Australia team knew about sandpaper ball tampering plottheguardian.com· 8d

    In his new autobiography Sabr, Usman Khawaja says the entire Australia touring party, not just the sanctioned trio, knew of the 2018 sandpaper ball-tampering plot in Cape Town and that sandpaper was also used in Port Elizabeth, where he says Bancroft first volunteered and Smith walked away from discussions. Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith alone were sanctioned; Darren Lehmann denied knowing, and Cricket Australia stands by its findings.

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