Khawaja, who retired from international cricket after the Ashes in January, has aired the claims in his upcoming book, “Sabr”, and on Instagram. In a video on Sunday he said: “I was always conscious of putting my team first, but I’m not in that team any more. Now, my words don’t influence the team at all.” He says sandpaper was used to rough up the ball near the boundary during the second Test in Gqeberha, then Port Elizabeth, before Cameron Bancroft was caught with it during the next match in Cape Town. The book is due for release on Tuesday.
The scandal, known as Sandpapergate, involved events on that 2018 South Africa tour. Steve Smith and David Warner each served one-year bans after the Cape Town incident. Smith’s statement at the time was: “You can ask questions as much as you like, but I can promise you this is the first time that it’s happened.” That statement now sits in conflict with Khawaja’s version of events. Some influential figures in cricket have told the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age that there were other ways to bring the full story into the public domain than a publicity blitz for a book from which Khawaja hopes to profit.
According to their managers, Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon are standing by a 2021 statement rejecting suggestions they knew a foreign substance had been taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball. As things stand, they will not release a fresh joint statement and are content to let Khawaja do the talking. Behind closed doors, the report says, their mood is annoyed but hardly surprised. Khawaja doubled down on Sunday, refusing to retreat from his assertion that “everyone knew”. Khawaja’s insistence that bowlers, batters and staff all knew has effectively called into question the integrity of Starc, the report says.
Smith is in New York and is understood to be watching the fallout closely. He will return for the first Test in Perth, and his next press conference promises to be well attended. Warner, in Nepal playing T20 cricket, has remained silent after Khawaja’s revelations.
Nic Maddinson, who was not on the 2018 tour, is likely to be the first member of the current Test set-up to face the media on Monday. Mitch Marsh, part of the touring party and captain of Australia’s white-ball sides against England from Friday, has never given a detailed account and did not sign the bowlers’ 2021 statement. Cameron Bancroft is weighing up whether to speak publicly.
Khawaja also claims Todd Greenberg, then head of the Australian Cricketers’ Association, agreed with him in 2021 that the bowlers and everyone else involved should have accepted collective responsibility. Darren Lehmann, Australia’s coach at the time, suggested on Saturday that sometimes things are best left unsaid. Former captain Mark Taylor said the episode would be “obviously a nightmare for Pat Cummins and the team leading into the summer of cricket”.