Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has dismissed Usman Khawaja's claims regarding the 2018 sandpaper scandal as '100% wrong' and 'complete nonsense'. At a media conference in Sydney, which he organised himself, Cummins stated that the entire team did not know that sandpaper was going onto the field and that he has consistently said so for the past eight years.
Khawaja published an autobiography this week in which he claims that the entire Australian team, including Cummins, knew about the sandpaper plan and should have taken responsibility. Cummins responded: 'When he says we all knew, if he means we knew that sandpaper was going onto the field, he is 100% wrong.' He added that he did not know it was happening.
In 2018, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were punished for a plan to damage the ball with sandpaper in a Test against South Africa in Cape Town. Cummins believes that the one-year bans for Smith and Warner and the nine-month suspension for Bancroft were 'too harsh' and 'far over the top'. He also said the incident occurred 'in the middle of a chaotic series' and that he does not remember Australia damaging the ball in the 2017-18 Ashes series against England.
Cummins stated that he has been in contact with Khawaja and Smith since the book's publication, but not with Warner. He said he was advised that some of Khawaja's claims were defamatory, but that he would not take legal action. He emphasised that he was 'genuinely shocked' by the comments in the book and that Khawaja had been 'careless with my life and the lives of many others - and, I think, Australian cricket'.
Cummins explained why sandpaper would be present in the dressing room, noting that bowlers sometimes used it in training to practise with a ball spinning in the opposite direction. He said it is common for cricketers to carry sandpaper in their bags and that training balls are sometimes damaged, using sandpaper or even a Stanley knife. 'We carry sandpaper, usually for batters; they rough up their bats. But we use it for balls in training too,' he said.
Khawaja's claims were supported by Warner and Chadd Sayers, while they were rejected by Darren Lehmann, Graeme Hick and Mitchell Starc. In the book 'Sabr', Khawaja claimed that Australia was encouraged by coaches to find ways to make the ball swing, while Bancroft was later encouraged to cheat. He also said he had asked the entire team to take responsibility, but that his request was rejected by two unnamed players. Cummins does not remember such a proposal.
Cummins confirmed that he met with Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg, who reviewed files from the original investigation and found the reports to be 'consistent'. Greenberg said the investigation would not be reopened. Cummins spoke for one hour and eight minutes and promised to answer all questions because, as he said, 'I don't want to talk about this again after today'.
