Australia captain Pat Cummins has launched a stunning rebuke of Usman Khawaja’s account of the sandpaper scandal, describing his former teammate’s version of events as “complete and utter nonsense”.
On Friday morning, Cummins fronted the media to address Khawaja’s bombshell claims the entire side was aware of ball tampering on their infamous tour of South Africa in 2018.
Cummins said he supported Khawaja’s right to tell his story, but was firm in his conviction it was at odds with the truth.
“When he says ‘we all knew’, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he is 100 per cent wrong,” Cummins said.
“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 I and others were architects of scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense.
“Usman and I are friends, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives or reputations. In his book, Uzzy has been casual with my life and the lives of many others, and, I think, Australian cricket.
“I don’t know what’s taken Usman so long . . . there’s been some allegations this week that you have to respond to.
“I know Uz, he’s not naive. He knew this was going to be a hot topic. To have statements such as ‘we all knew’ — well, we all knew about what? For me, that’s very casual.”
After Cam Bancroft — who was caught on the television broadcast attempting to disguise a piece of sandpaper on the field in Cape Town — said in a 2021 interview whether the team’s bowlers were aware ball tampering was taking place was “self-explanatory”, Cummins was one of four signatories to a statement denying that was the case.
While also reaffirming that stance, he said there “was no master plan around using illegal methods” in attempting to get the ball to reverse swing.
“Some of these things are probably true, and they’re his (Khawaja’s) accounts of what happened, but I think there’s a few big leaps here, where he is being vague. I think the details really matter,” Cummins said.
“Perhaps, there was conversations with Cam Bancroft about taking sandpaper out and how to do it. That doesn’t mean that everyone in that dressing room knew what was going on.”
Over the last week, Khawaja has said he had been a firm advocate for the team taking collective responsibility at the time of the incident, rather than allowing blame to be pinned on Bancroft, vice-captain David Warner and captain Steve Smith.
But Cummins said he did not recall the batsman sharing that view with the team.
“I definitely don’t remember that, and I’ve spoken to a few other people (who have said) exactly the same,” he said.
While Cummins said he had received legal advice some of Khawaja’s allegations were “probably defamatory”, he said he would not be addressing them in court.
“You’ve got to move on. It’s been eight years . . . You’ve got to draw a line at some point,” he said.
When asked if Cricket Australia should reopen their investigation of the events in South Africa, Cummins said he had shared a reassuring conversation with chief executive Todd Greenberg since Khawaja went public with his claims.
“He just said to me — I don’t like breaking confidences, but I’m sure he won’t mind me saying — he knew the book was coming out, he revisted all the transcripts and we’ve been very consistent and none of it warrants reopening it,” he said.
Cummins said Australia’s side at the time had a “win at all costs mentality”, an “ugly underbelly” and “too many silos in the team”, traits he hope he had helped eradicate in his six years as captain.
“My memories of coming back into that side was there were parts that I didn’t really think were okay,” he said.
“I thought the way we acted on the field was quite abrasive. I didn’t like some of the way we spoke to umpires, the opposition.
“I think there was a bit of arrogance and a bit of an ugliness at times that didn’t really sit well with me as a young guy.”
Bancroft, Warner and Smith were given unprecedented sanctions for their roles in the incident. The leadership pair were handed year-long suspensions from international and State cricket, while the West Australian was stood down for nine months.
After describing the penalties as “too heavy-handed,” the 33-year-old said he wanted the “traumatic” fallout of the incident to be left in the past.
“That’s why I’ve been really disappointed and frustrated this week, with how it’s been dealt with so flippantly,” he said.
“We’ve been very consistent. We dealt with this at the time, we went through the proper method, we told everyone in the investigation everything we knew.
“We had to defend ourselves in 2021 and we’re having to defend ourselves now. If we have to do this every time another book or idea comes out, it’s pretty ridiculous.”
Cummins said he had seen ball tampering occur once before, in a Sheffield Shield match before the events of 2018.
“It was a batter, a senior player — I won’t mention him — he took a bottle cap out on the field,” he said.
“I was looking at it going ‘wow, that’s not okay’. The umpires knew it as well, they caught him out and said ‘you’ve got to stop that right now’. It was dealt with.”
In Khawaja’s autobiography, which was released on Tuesday, he also revealed he was “flabbergasted” to have been overlooked for the captaincy in favour of wicketkeeper Tim Paine after Smith and Warner were stood down.
He stated his belief the decision was partially based on his Pakistani background, an allegation Cummins said was among his most serious.
“To think that the job that I hold is quarantined from people based on their skin colour, that’s a pretty big statement. I think if you’re going to say that, you’ve got to have some evidence,” he said.
“I just don’t think that’s the case. Again, I agree with Uzzy on a lot of things . . . I couldn’t disagree with that statement any more.”
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