Sandpaper controversy: Pat Cummins agrees to respond to Usman Khawaja’s allegations in a no-holds-barred press interaction originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
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Usman Khawaja and the infamous ‘Sandpapergate’ from 2018 became a major talking point in world cricket this week.
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Pat Cummins has finally agreed to respond to all of Khawaja’s allegations.
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All eyes on Pat Cummins: Australia captain agrees to share his opinion on Usman Khawaja’s allegations regarding ‘Sandpapergate’
Australia’s Test and ODI captain Pat Cummins has finally agreed to address the controversy that has rocked Australian cricket in the last week. It all started after former national team opener Usman Khawaja made explosive claims about the infamous ‘Sandpapergate’ from 2018 during Australia’s tour of South Africa.
In his recently released autobiography, ‘Sabr’, Khawaja claimed that the entire Australian team from the 2018 South Africa tour was aware of the use of sandpaper in Cape Town and not just the three players who were implicated.
The official line since the incident held that only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft had knowledge of the plan to use sandpaper on the ball during the third Test against South Africa. The aim, as it was understood at the time, was to scuff the surface and help the ball swing in reverse, and the three men were handed upto 12 months’ bans for their roles.
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However, Khawaja’s claims in his book have now brought the limelight back to the incident, as the southpaw claimed that every single Australian player knew about it, including the bowlers.
Pat Cummins to hold press conference on Friday
Days after Khawaja’s allegations rocked the cricket world, Australia skipper Cummins has finally decided to respond after carefully ‘understanding the long list and full extent of Khawaja’s allegations’.
On Thursday, in a long social media post, Cummins informed the world that he will hold a press conference to talk about everything related to Khawaja’s claims and will present his side of the story.
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On X, the pacer wrote, “I’m training at Cricket Central tomorrow morning before the Blues play in the Shield match. Happy to speak with any and all media about the events of this week at 9.30 am. I’ve taken some time to try and better understand the long list and full extent of Uzzy’s allegations so I can respond properly. Afterwards, please stay and support the Blues! I’ll ask CA to send out details.”
The cricket world will have its eyes on Cummins’ press conference, especially as he, along with the three other bowlers from that match, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, had put out a statement in 2018 that they had no idea about any such scheme.
The joint statement read: “We pride ourselves on our honesty. So it’s been disappointing to see that our integrity has been questioned by some journalists and past players in recent days in regard to the Cape Town Test of 2018. We have already answered questions many times on this issue, but we feel compelled to put the key facts on the record again: We did not know a foreign substance was taken onto the field to alter the condition of the ball until we saw the images on the big screen at Newlands.
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“And to those who, despite the absence of evidence, insist that ‘we must have known’ about the use of a foreign substance simply because we are bowlers, we say this: The umpires during that Test match, Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth, both very respected and experienced umpires, inspected the ball after the images surfaced on the TV coverage and did not change it because there was no sign of damage. None of this excuses what happened on the field that day at Newlands. It was wrong and it should never have happened. We’ve all learned valuable lessons and we’d like to think the public can see a change for the better in terms of the way we play, the way we behave and respect the game.”
The statement added, “Our commitment to improving as people and players will continue. We respectfully request an end to the rumour-mongering and innuendo. It has gone on too long and it is time to move on. Regards, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon.”
MORE: Expert who led Sandpapergate review now doubts AUS players’ accounts
Starc stood by bowlers’ statement from 2021
While Cummins is yet to share his version of the events, his colleague and fellow pace bowler from that match, Mitchell Starc, has already somewhat responded to the allegations.
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Starc did not reveal much about the incident, but he stood firm on their claim from 2021 and reiterated that they did not know the use of sandpaper on the ball.
In a recent interaction with the media, Starc said, “Yeah, that’s the first I was aware of any of that taking place in PE (second Test) was when (Khawaja said it) … I’ll leave that for said authors to explain,” Starc said.
He went on to admit that he had not followed the discussion closely, and he pointed out that opinions from eight years ago were bound to differ.
“I haven’t really paid much attention to be fair, obviously there’s differing opinions of eight years ago. We were heavily drilled through the process at the time, and since and I guess I won’t speak on behalf of the bowlers, but where I stand, my opinion hasn’t changed. My recollection hasn’t changed from what we said in 2021.”
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Starc’s final remarks drew a narrow line around what the joint statement actually covered, which was the question of whether the bowlers knew anything was being taken onto the field.
“As far as our statement said, we weren’t aware of things being taken on the field, that’s where I’ll leave it.”
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