David Warner says Pat Cummins threw Usman Khawaja “under the bus” at Friday’s Sandpapergate press conference, after the Australian Test captain rejected Khawaja’s claim that the whole team knew about the sandpaper in Cape Town. The former opener also described Cricket Australia’s 2018 investigation as “botched”.
Warner, Australia’s vice-captain at the time of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, made the comments on Fox Cricket’s coverage of the first one-day international between Australia and England in Perth on Friday afternoon, the ABC reported.
“I feel the captain today threw Ussie under the bus and I’m very, very disappointed by that,” Warner said.
Cummins had used a press conference in Sydney on Friday morning to describe Khawaja’s claim that the entire Australian team knew about ball tampering in Cape Town as “complete and utter nonsense”. He also said Khawaja was “100 per cent wrong” if he meant the team knew sandpaper was going out onto the field.
Warner, a childhood friend of Khawaja, said he stood by what the former opener had written in his autobiography, Sabr. “I still stick by Uzzy and what he’s written in that book. It’s the truth and I really, really support him,” Warner said, AAP reported.
Khawaja’s account remains disputed. Cummins and the other bowlers from the Cape Town Test have denied knowing that sandpaper was taken onto the field, and Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said this week there was no compelling reason to reopen the investigation.
Read more: Pat Cummins: Khawaja ‘100 Per Cent Wrong’ on Sandpapergate
‘A botched investigation’
Warner said the way the matter was handled at the time made it hard for him, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft to say more.
“The way it was handled in the first place, it was hard for us to go back and give more evidence. I feel like it was a botched investigation,” he said, according to the ABC.
“It was a quick one to get it over and done with. Some of the questions were quite challenging in the way it was being planted on us and we had to move on and just accept responsibility, the three of us, and we ultimately did.”
Warner also referred to Greenberg ruling out a fresh look at the case. “We don’t have that opportunity to go there and speak again,” he said. “Todd Greenberg squashed that the other day.”
‘A life punishment’
Warner and Smith were each banned for 12 months over the Cape Town Test, while Bancroft was suspended for nine months. Cricket Australia’s investigation identified only those three players as involved, Fox Sports reported.
“All three of us have paid a big price in this,” Warner said, adding that the trio had “been served a life punishment”.
Speaking about his family, Warner said he and his wife, Candice, lost a baby during that period. “We lost a baby during that time. And that’s why it really hurts me the most until the truth is accepted,” he said, according to the ABC.
What happens next
Warner said he did not expect the matter to end with Cummins’ press conference. “I just don’t think this will rest,” he said.
Cummins was asked on Friday morning why Khawaja’s and Warner’s recollections differed so much from his. “That sounds like a pretty good question for those two,” he said, according to the ABC. “There’s 11 players in that room, so that means there’s nine other guys who I think it’s appropriate you give an equal amount of weight into their story as well.”
There had been no public response from Cricket Australia or Cummins to Warner’s comments at the time of writing.
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