‘We knew’: Usman Khawaja blows apart Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon’s claims of innocence in sandpaper scandal originally appeared on Cricket News. Add Cricket News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
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Usman Khawaja’s new book makes a startling claim about the 2018 Cape Town scandal, popularly known as the “Sandpapergate.”
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A 2021 joint statement from four leading Australian bowlers is now under scrutiny.
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Khawaja says he waited eight years for the truth to emerge before speaking himself.
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Did Australia’s bowlers know about Sandpaper Gate? Usman Khawaja’s claims explained
Usman Khawaja has dismantled the long-standing version of events around the 2018 sandpaper scandal, insisting that every member of the Australian dressing room knew what was coming in Cape Town, and not just the three players who were punished.
The official line held that only Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft had any knowledge of the plan to use sandpaper on the ball during the third Test against South Africa.
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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’ ban for their roles.
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Player |
Role |
Cricket Australia punishment |
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David Warner |
Instigator |
12-month ban from international and domestic cricket; lifetime ban from leadership roles |
|
Steve Smith |
Captain who knew of the plan |
12-month ban from international and domestic cricket; two-year ban from leadership roles |
|
Cameron Bancroft |
Carried out the act |
Nine-month ban from international and domestic cricket |
Khawaja’s claims appear in his autobiography, Sabr, which is due to be published next week. It is going to make headlines as four bowlers in that match, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, put out a joint statement in 2021 saying they had no idea about any such scheme.
The 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 NewlandsAnd 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. 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.
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“Regards, Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitch Starc, Nathan Lyon.”
Khawaja played 88 Tests and scored more than 6,000 runs, so he speaks as a long-serving insider rather than a fringe figure. He has now chosen to say publicly what he says he told his teammates privately in the immediate aftermath of the scandal.
Khawaja’s autobiography Sabr claims the ball-tampering plan began at Port Elizabeth
According to the book, the idea was not a sudden decision made in Cape Town but something first raised during the second Test at Port Elizabeth, a venue now called Gqeberha.
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Khawaja writes that those conversations led to the “discovery of sandpaper as an effective agent”, which suggests the plan developed over several days and several discussions.
He also describes a moment involving the then captain. In his telling, Smith “essentially threw his hands in the air” and said he did not want to know the details, which is a very different picture from that of a leader who was fully in charge of the plan.
In fact, the bowlers’ joint denial did not come out of nowhere. It followed a 2021 newspaper interview in which Bancroft was asked whether the bowlers were aware of what was happening, and he gave a hesitant answer that did little to settle the matter.
His reply to The Guardian, as quoted, ran: “All I wanted to do was to be responsible and accountable for my own actions and part. Yeah, obviously what I did benefits bowlers and the awareness around that, probably, is self-explanatory. I guess one thing I learnt through the journey and being responsible is that’s where the buck stops [with Bancroft himself]. Had I had better awareness, I would have made a much better decision.”
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When pressed again, if the bowlers had knowledge of it, he said: “Uh… yeah, look, I think, yeah, I think it’s pretty probably self-explanatory.”
The four bowlers then responded together to make their position clear, saying they had known nothing, and that statement now sits directly against Khawaja’s account.
Khawaja spoke at length to the Sydney Morning Herald about the book and his reasons for revealing so much.
“It was all of us,” he said. “Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.”
He also suggested the revelation might bring some relief to the wider squad, even if it is uncomfortable in the short term. “At the end of the day, I think it’s the right thing to do, particularly for those three guys,” he said. “And I think most of the guys in the team, at some level, will be relieved that we can finally move on.”
Why Khawaja decided to speak out about the Cape Town ball-tampering scandal after eight years
Khawaja made it clear that he had never wanted to be the person to tell this story. He said he had expected someone else to bring it into the open long before now, and that he was reluctant to take on the task himself.
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“In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this,” he said. “I don’t want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.”
He went on to name one person he had hoped would do it. “Maybe I thought Davey would have exposed it, or someone else would have talked about it more. I just didn’t think it was going to come down to this. But the longer it’s gone on for, and right from the very start, I’ve been on the train of collectively taking it.”
The batter says his position was set within hours of the scandal breaking, and that he pushed it in the dressing room straight after the game. He wanted the group to stand together rather than leave a few individuals to face the consequences alone.
“Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game, I said: ‘Take this as a team. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team.’ So I was always of that stance. Obviously, it didn’t work that way, and those three guys got crucified.”
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Why Khawaja was never interviewed in Cricket Australia’s sandpaper investigation
One of the more surprising parts of his account is that nobody from the governing body asked him for evidence while the inquiry was under way. He had sat next to Bancroft throughout the Test, which makes the omission all the more striking.
He believes it was not an accident. “I was sitting next to Cam Bancroft that whole Test match, and I didn’t get interviewed. I thoroughly feel that I didn’t get interviewed because they knew that I wanted to take it as a team, because they knew I was ready to tell the truth if I was interviewed.”
His surprise only grew as the process moved ahead without him. “And I was waiting for my phone to ring. It just never rang, and then the penalties were given, and I couldn’t believe it.”
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Darren Lehmann denies knowing about sandpaper plan but says ball tampering was widespread in cricket
Khawaja’s claims have drawn a response from Lehmann, who was in charge of the Australian side at the time of the Cape Town Test. Speaking on ABC Sport’s Summer Grandstand, he said he had no personal knowledge that sandpaper was being used, and he also doubted that every member of the Australian camp would have been aware of it.
He did, however, argue that until that point ball tampering was a familiar part of the sport around the world. He drew a line between knowing that the practice existed and knowing the specific methods used by individual players.
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“I don’t think everyone would have known [about the use of sandpaper]. You do know ball tampering is going on because it’s been happening for 150 years,” Lehmann said.
He went on to explain that awareness of the method would have varied from player to player, rather than being shared across the whole group.
“It’s just how it’s being done, and how you would know to that extent? That’s an individual case by case, to be fair.”
Lehmann then stressed that he could only speak for himself and described how much the game has changed since the scandal. He accepted that the wider culture was no excuse, while pointing out that his side had paid dearly for being caught.
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He added: “I can only speak to what I know, and I know ball tampering was a big part of the game of cricket. Now it is obsolete. That doesn’t make it right either, but that’s the case, and we paid a heavy price for that.”
A hard truth that deserves careful handling
Khawaja’s account is serious, and it deserves to be treated as such, but it should also be read with care. He is describing events from eight years ago in a book, which means his version is the only one currently on the table.
There is a fair case that he has done the sport a service. If he is right, then the public was given an incomplete story for years, and three players carried almost all of the blame while others stayed quiet. His willingness to say so, even at a possible cost to his own personal relationships, will strike many supporters as brave and overdue.
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However, the other side of the argument is equally worth hearing. Cummins, Starc, Hazlewood and Lyon have said, in a joint statement, that they were unaware, and nothing published so far proves otherwise.
Memories fade, and “knowing” can mean different things to different people, from hearing a vague comment to being told the full plan. It would be unfair to treat these four men as guilty simply because one teammate has described the dressing room differently.
It is also worth remembering that Khawaja’s claim is not an accusation of a single act but a broader statement about shared culture. That is harder to prove or disprove, and it should be tested through additional accounts rather than accepted on the word of a single voice.
Moreover, Lehmann’s claims go against Khawaja’s, and hence, it is best to deal with caution the former batsman’s blanket “all of us” assertion.
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Cricket Australia now faces a difficult choice about whether to look again at what happened. Whatever it decides, fairness to everyone involved- the three who were banned and the four who deny knowledge- should come first.
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