Pat Cummins has rejected Usman Khawaja’s claim that the whole Australian team knew about the sandpaper in Cape Town in 2018, calling the suggestion that he and others were architects of a ball-tampering scheme “complete and utter nonsense”.
The Australian Test captain fronted the media at Cricket Central in Sydney on Friday morning, speaking publicly for the first time since Khawaja’s autobiography, Sabr, reignited the Sandpapergate scandal, AAP reported.
“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he’s 100 per cent wrong,” Cummins told reporters.
“I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening.
“But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper.
“That’s complete and utter nonsense.”
‘Friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives’
Cummins described Khawaja as a friend but said the book had gone too far, according to the ABC.
“Usman is a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations. In his book he’s been casual with my life and the lives of many others and I think Australian cricket,” Cummins said.
“I support him to tell his story, 100 per cent, I’m glad he feels like he can, but we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do.”
Cummins also said he was “genuinely shocked” by one part of Khawaja’s account.
“I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out Usman admitted he told Cam [Bancroft] to be careful when using sandpaper. That’s not Usman that I know,” he said. “The Usman I know would have stopped that from happening there and then.”
‘A few big leaps’
Cummins accepted parts of Khawaja’s account may be accurate but said the detail mattered.
“Some of these things are probably true, and they are his accounts of what happened. But I think there’s a few big leaps here where he’s being vague and I think the details really matter in that difference,” Cummins said, as reported by the ABC.
“So perhaps there was conversations with Cameron Bancroft around taking sandpaper out and how to do it. That doesn’t mean that everyone in that dressing room knew what was going on.”
Cummins said he was interviewed as part of the review after Cape Town and that his account had not changed. “I did my interview, I was totally truthful, I have been very consistent since then from that event until now. Nothing has changed,” he said.
He also said he did not recall Khawaja calling for the team to share responsibility. “I don’t remember any conversation around collective responsibility. I don’t remember any team meeting where he stood up and said, ‘Let’s own this as a team.’”
‘An ugly underbelly’
Cummins was 24 and playing his 13th Test in Cape Town, in a team that he said “at that stage I think had a win at all cost mentality, had an ugly underbelly, and there was too many silos within the team”, The Sydney Morning Herald reported.
“Traits that I hope that everyone’s seen, and I tried very hard to eradicate for the last six years as captain,” he said.
Asked about comments in the book about Khawaja not being considered for the captaincy, Cummins told reporters: “To think that the job I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour, it’s a pretty big statement. If you are going to say that I think you have to have evidence. And I just don’t think that’s the case.”
What Khawaja has claimed
Khawaja alleged this week that “all of us” knew sandpaper was being used to rough up the ball on the 2018 tour of South Africa, the Herald reported, despite several players, notably the bowlers, having denied it. AAP reported that the claim covered the entire team, not just Cameron Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith, who were suspended over the third Test in Cape Town.
All four bowlers from that Test, Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, issued a joint statement in 2021 denying knowledge that a foreign substance had been taken onto the field, according to AAP. Starc said earlier this week that his recollection had not changed.
Warner, the vice-captain at the time, posted on social media on Monday night that Khawaja’s account was 100 per cent correct, AAP reported, while Chadd Sayers, a back-up bowler on the tour, told Fairfax newspapers: “I believe in what Uzzy said.”
Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg said this week there was not “any compelling reason” to revisit the investigation, The Guardian reported, and AAP reported that CA remains adamant it will not reopen it.
Khawaja pulled out of interviews earlier this week after an appearance on the ABC’s 7.30 on Tuesday night, when he declined to answer a number of questions, including what Cummins knew, the Herald reported.
Australia vs England 1st ODI today
The saga continues to hang over Australian cricket on the day the one-day series against England starts. The first ODI at Perth Stadium begins at 2:30pm AEDT, with Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood left out of the series to stay fresh for the Test summer.
ODI captain Mitchell Marsh, who also played in the Cape Town Test, said on Thursday he had “moved on” and was not willing to share his views on the saga, AAP reported.
Read more: Australia Crash to 111 as South Africa Win Cape Town Test and Series
More News
