Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has broken his silence on Usman Khawaja’s explosive ‘Sandpapergate’ claims, describing the suggestion he helped plan the 2018 ball-tampering scheme as ‘complete and utter nonsense’, and adding he was ‘grappling’ with the fact a ‘friend’ would say as much so casually.
Speaking to reporters in a marathon press conference that lasted for over an hour on Friday morning, Cummins said Khawaja was ‘100 per cent wrong’ to claim there was widespread knowledge that sandpaper was being taken onto the field.
‘I did not know that was happening,’ Cummins said.
‘(Usman) says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper.
‘That’s complete and utter nonsense.
‘It’s something I’ve actually been grappling with the last couple days… Usman is a friend, but I think the way he’s been quite casual and flippant with people’s lives and reputations… I don’t think that’s okay, and I don’t think that’s what friends do.’
‘So, one of you is not telling the truth, which one of you is not telling the truth?’ asked a reporter.
‘Well, that’s my story. So, I think (Khawaja’s) wrong,’ Cummins said, adding that he wouldn’t be pursuing legal action over the claims.
Australian Test captain Pat Cummins has broken his silence on Usman Khawaja’s explosive ‘Sandpapergate’ claims.
Khawaja and Cummins together on the sidelines during a Test Match in 2018
‘I did get advice this week that some of the things that have been said are probably defamatory, but I won’t be doing that … you’ve got to move on. It’s been eight years, I keep saying we’re moving on, so you’ve got to draw a line at some point. So no, I won’t be doing anything,’ he said.
Cummins appeared emotional as he addressed Khawaja’s allegation that racism kept him from captaining Australia.
‘I think of all the things I’ve read it’s the most serious,’ Cummins declared.
‘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.
‘I just don’t think that’s the case. So again, I agree with Usman on a lot of things, but when I disagree, I disagree and I have to disagree with that statement.’
Cummins, who played in the Test in question against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018, was adamant that Khawaja was ‘100 per cent wrong’ in his assertion that all players were aware of the sandpaper going out on the field.
However, he admitted that the team that played in the series had an ‘ugly underbelly’.
‘I think [it] had a win at all costs mentality, had an ugly underbelly, and there were too many silos within the team,’ he said.
Cummins admitted the series against South Africa in 2018 had an ‘ugly underbelly’ that he didn’t appreciate
Left to right: Pat Cummins, Josh Hazelwood, Nathan Lyon and Mitchel Starc; all four bowlers who played in the Cape Town Test Match and have denied they knew sandpaper was being taken onto the field
‘The way we acted on the field was quite abrasive… there was a bit of arrogance and a bit of ugliness at times that didn’t sit rightly with me.’
Cummins also said that it was normal to see sandpaper in the dressing room – but that was different to it being brought on the pitch.
‘It’s a very normal thing around the dressing room,’ he said.
‘We can go into more depth around that. But to then take the leap to say we’re going to use this to affect the playing ball out in the middle. No, I was not aware. That was news to me this week.
‘There was no master plan around using illegal methods,’ Cummins added.
‘I think that’s maybe something that hasn’t been spoken about enough.
‘People assume you’ve gone from very legal methods to suddenly taking sandpaper, and there must have been some huge master plan… like the truth, that is not the case.
‘There’s no grand plan; there’s no team meeting. There are no bowlers saying, “this is what must happen”.
Cummins said it was ‘normal’ for sandpaper to be used in training and around dressing rooms, but denied there was a ‘master plan’ to use it on the field
‘We’ve moved on… but again, these are people lives. It was traumatic for some of them… they’ve had to work through quite a bit to get out the other side.
‘So again, that’s why I’ve been really disappointed and frustrated this week is how it’s been dealt with so flippantly.’
Cummins has also flipped the script on Khawaja, who had claimed he was sitting next to Cameron Bancroft – the former test opener who was caught using sandpaper on the ball in the Test Match in 2018 – when he was encouraged by a member of the coaching staff to keep tampering.
‘It looks like it’s been sitting heavy on (Usman) for a while,’ Cummins said.
‘He’s sitting next to Bancroft, so it sounds like he knew a lot more than others in the change room.
‘I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper; that’s not the Usman that I know.
‘It’s not the Usman that I think that has been part of a team that’s helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years, [which] would have stopped that from happening there.
‘Usman was a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations. He’s dealt with the way he’s presented his story in a very casual manner and it affects a lot of people.’
Khawaja and Cummins have played together for Australia for over a decade; however, Cummins hit out at Khawaja over the ‘causual’ manner of how he spoke about the sandpaper scandal
Pressure had been mounting on Cummins to address Khawaja’s claims, published in his new memoir Sabr; in signs that things were potentially starting to fray, Cummins was filmed having an animated conversation with his wife, Rebecca, outside their house earlier this week.
However, Cummins laughed off the spat, and revealed his wife was actually upset with his former teammate.
‘It’s… very comical. Becky wears her heart on her sleeve,’ he said.
‘We weren’t having a spat. Becky was very frustrated, animated and really not happy with Usman.
‘She’s always just said to be honest and tell the details and put your washing away.
‘I’ve been with Becky since well before that tour, so she’s seen everything. She leaves it all with me.
‘So, she’s just saying, like, show your emotion because there are a lot of people here hurting.’
Cummins’ comments come as Cricket Australia (CA) continue to deal with the fallout of a raft of explosive claims published by Khawaja in Sabr.
Cummins with his wife Rebecca, and one of their children, after a Test victory
In the book Khawaja claims the wider Australian team and coaching staff was aware of the plan to use sandpaper on the match ball during the 2018 Test series against South Africa in order to try and achieve reverse swing.
The use of an adhesive – such as sandpaper – to scruff up a side of the ball can help achieve reverse swing earlier than usual; however, under Law 41.3 of the Laws of Cricket, players are strictly prohibited from taking any deliberate action that artificially alters the physical condition of the match ball.
During the Cape Town Test, then-opener Cameron Bancroft was caught by cameras using a small strip of sandpaper to scuff up one side of the match ball.
Following the match Bancroft was served with a 9-month ban from playing professional cricket in Australia, while then-captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner each received a year’s suspension.
Since the scandal members of both the team and CA have remained largely silent; however, in the chapter of Sabr titled ‘Sandpaper’, Khawaja – who also played in the match – claimed the entire team was in on the plot.
Khawaja also claimed that the team had used sandpaper in the second Test of the 2018 series in Gqeberha (the known as Port Elizabeth) – the match that preceded the powder keg Newlands contest.
Unlike the Cape Town Test though, Khawaja said the team would sandpaper the ball before taking to the field for a session of play.
Khawaja’s claims of what happened around the Test have been heavily disputed by some of his teammates.
In his explosive new momoir, Khawaja claimed there was an organisation-wide conspiracy within Cricket Australia to tamper with the ball during the 2018 series against South Africa
Left-to-right: David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft: the three players sanctioned following the sandpaper scandal
Footage was captured of opener Cameron Bancroft scuffing up the ball with sandpaper during the 2018 Cape Town test match
Bancroft then attempted to hide the sandpaper by putting it down the front of his pants
The four bowlers who played in the 2018 match – Mitchel Starc, Josh Hazlewood, Pat Cummins and Nathan Lyon – released a statement in 2021 denying prior knowledge of a foreign object being brought onto the field in Cape Town.
Speaking to media on Tuesday, Starc said his recollection of events had not changed.
‘We weren’t aware anything was taken on to the field to be tampered with. We saw (the sandpaper) on the big screen in Cape Town,’ Starc said.
‘As far as the book is concerned, I haven’t read it. I probably won’t read it. So that’s for Usman to elaborate on. I’ll stick to what I said five years ago, what I said at the time, eight years ago. Clearly, there’s different versions from different people, and I’ll leave it where I left it back then.’
However, David Warner also weighed in on the renewed controversy earlier this week, positing a video to Instagram where he thanked his ‘brother’ Khawaja, and said everything he said was ‘100 per cent accurate’.
A young David Warner and Usman Khawaja, playing representative cricket in Sydney. Warner has voiced his support for Khawaja’s book
The pair went on to form a successful opening partnership for Australia
