England’s Joe Root says he does not believe ball-tampering was rampant across the international game at the time of Australia’s ‘Sandpapergate’ scandal as he chose not to pile in on his Ashes rivals following Usman Khawaja’s explosive claims.
Former Baggy Greens batter Khawaja alleged in his just-released autobiography, ‘Sabr’, that every member of the team knew about the plot to alter the condition of the ball in South Africa in 2018.
Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera applying sandpaper to the ball during a game in Cape Town and subsequently banned for nine months, with then-captain Steve Smith and David Warner, who was seen as the architect of the plot, handed year-long suspensions.
Root, currently in Australia ahead of a three-match ODI series that begins in Perth on Friday, replied “I can only speak from my own experiences, that’s not how I feel,” when asked if he thought ball-tampering was rife in the sport eight years ago.
The England Test captain added of Khawaja’s claims, which include suggesting sandpaper was also used the Test before the Cape Town fixture in 2018, in Gqeberha, and that Australia experimented with lifting the seam during the 2017-18 Ashes at home to England, which they won 4-0: “We obviously have no idea (about it).
“It’s all speculation. I wasn’t in that dressing room. I don’t know what went on. I don’t want to speculate, as I said. My focus is with this team right now and what we’ve got coming up.”
Root and England are facing Australia in ODIs in Perth, Adelaide and Hobart
Australia captain Marsh set to be grilled on Thursday
Khawaja is understood to have cancelled further promotional interviews for his book after an awkward exchange on Australian broadcaster ABC’s 7.30 programme.
Australia’s white-ball captain for the England series, Mitchell Marsh, played in the infamous Cape Town Test eight years ago and will surely be grilled on Khawaja’s claims when he holds a press conference on Thursday.
Bowlers Mitchell Starc, Nathan Lyon, Pat Cummins and Josh Hazlewood, who issued a joint statement in 2021 denying any prior knowledge of the use of sandpaper, are not involved in the ODIs or T20s versus England.
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Mitchell Starc responded to Khawaja’s claims that Australia’s entire dressing room knew about the ball-tampering scheme in Cape Town in 2018
Cummins said in South Africa last month, where Australia lost 2-1 in their first Test series in the country since the ‘Sandpapergate’ affair, that he had spoken to Khawaja about his book and was not concerned about any potential fallout.
“He just basically gave me the heads-up that he’s doing a book, and yeah, as always, no worries. Tell your story. It’s fine,” Cummins told reporters.
Despite Khawaja’s claims, Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg, who was not involved with the organisation at the time of the ball-tampering scandal, said there was “no compelling reason” to re-open an investigation.
Schedule for England’s tour of Australia
ODIs 3.30am UK time, with T20s 8.15am UK time
- First ODI: Friday, November 13 (Perth)
- Second ODI: Sunday November 15 (Adelaide)
- Third ODI: Wednesday November 18 (Hobart)
- First T20I: Saturday November 21 (Melbourne)
- Second T20I: Tuesday November 24 (Carrara)
- Third T20I: Friday November 27 (Brisbane)
- Fourth T20I: Sunday November 29 (Sydney)
- Fifth T20I: Wednesday December 2 (Canberra)
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: skynews.com
