Australia Test captain Pat Cummins dismissed his former teammate Usman Khawaja’s claims as “nonsense” after the recently retired batsman said in his autobiography that the entire side was aware of the ball-tampering that took place on their 2018 tour of South Africa.
Hawaii made the discoveries in his new book ‘Sabr’, which came out earlier this week, bringing the scandal back on the agenda eight years after Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball as Australia were fielding.
Only Bancroft, then-captain Steve Smith and his vice-captain David Warner were punished, with each receiving lengthy bans after the rest of the Australian team and coaching staff denied knowledge of the scheme.
Cummins, who was a relatively minor member of the team playing just his 13th Test match, in 2021 issued a joint statement with fellow players from the match Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, in which they denied knowing that a foreign substance had been introduced onto the pitch to attempt to alter the ball.
“When he says we all knew, if by that he means we knew the sandpaper was coming out on the field, he’s 100 per cent wrong. I’ve said that over and over for the last eight years,” Cummins told reporters on Friday morning in Sydney after calling the press conference himself on social media.
“I didn’t know it was happening, but Usman actually says things that are actually much more serious than that.
“He says that I and others were the architects of a scheme to tamper with sandpaper. This is complete and utter nonsense.”
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David Warner took to his Instagram to support Khawaja’s claims that the entire team knew about the 2018 ball-tampering plan against South Africa (Credit: @davidwarner31)
Following the publication of the book, Warner, who received a one-year ban from all cricket and a lifetime ban from managerial roles, said on Monday that Khawaja’s version of events was “100 per cent correct”.
Cummins, who was named Australia’s captain in November 2021, criticized Khawaja for being “casual” with the lives of his former teammates and Australian cricket as a whole.
“Usman is a friend, but friends are not incidental to each other’s lives and reputations,” Cummins said.
“In his book, Ussie has been incidental to my life and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket.”
Cummins, who appeared to get emotional at times in a press conference that lasted more than an hour, revealed that a video taken of him and his wife Becky in a heated discussion the day before had been prompted by her anger at Khawaja’s actions.
Despite this and his clear disagreement with Khawaja’s statements, Cummins said he has no intention of pursuing legal action.
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Martin Samuel explains what impact Khawaja’s claims that the entire Australian team was aware of South Africa’s 2018 ball-tampering scheme could have on next summer’s Ashes series in England
“I was advised this week that some of the things that have been said are probably defamatory, but I’m not going to do that,” Cummins said.
“You have to move on. It’s been eight years. We’re moving on. So you have to draw a line at some point.”
Cummins has been rested for England’s white-ball tour of Australia, which resulted in his press conference being held on Friday morning in Sydney, just hours before the first ODI was scheduled to begin in Perth.
How have other Australian players reacted?
Cummins’ extraordinary press conference came a day after Australia’s ODI captain Mitchell Marsh, who was also part of the team that toured South Africa in 2018, declined to comment on a series of questions about Khawaja’s book.
Khawaja also claimed in the book that Australia experimented with raising the seam on the ball during the 2017-18 Ashes at home to England, which they won 4-0 under Smith’s captaincy.
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Australia captain Mitchell Marsh refused to comment on ‘Sandpapergate’ ahead of their ODI series opener against England.
Starc, who had spoken to reporters on Tuesday, took a similar stance to Cummins as he insisted his recollections had not changed.
Starc, who is also not part of Australia’s squad to face England, said of Khawaja’s claims: “I haven’t paid too much attention to it to be fair.
“There are different opinions from eight years ago. We were very concerned during the process, then and since.
“I will not speak on behalf of the footballers, but from where I stand my opinion has not changed, my memories have not changed from what we said in 2021.
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Mitchell Starc responds to Khawaja’s claims that the entire Australian dressing room knew about the ball-tampering scheme in Cape Town in 2018
“As our statement said, we were not aware of the things that were being thrown on the field. That’s where I’ll leave it.
“I’ll stand by what I said five years ago, what I said at the time eight years ago, so obviously there are different versions from different people.
“We were not aware of anything taken on the field to tamper with. We saw it on the big screen in Cape Town.
“As for the book, I haven’t read it. I probably won’t, so it’s up to Usman to elaborate.”
