"Complete and utter nonsense.” That was how Australia captain Pat Cummins dismissed Usman Khawaja’s claim that the entire team was involved in the ball-tampering scandal that became known as "Sandpapergate” and rocked Australian cricket in 2018.
Cummins called an extraordinary news conference Friday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, hours before Australia’s home-season opening one-day international against England in Perth, to address allegations published this week in the autobiography of his longtime teammate.
Opening the packed news conference, Cummins said he was prepared to answer questions all day if necessary, stressing that he wanted to put the damaging episode behind the team once and for all. However, a subsequent response from David Warner suggested the controversy was far from over.
In the immediate aftermath of a Cricket Australia investigation into the attempted cheating, three players received unprecedented bans: Steve Smith and Warner, then the captain and vice-captain, were suspended for 12 months, while Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball, received a nine-month ban.
The episode has remained so divisive that, even eight years later, the innuendo and acrimony surrounding it mean Cummins’ comments during a 70-minute news conference will not end questions about who knew what and when.
Cummins, who was part of Australia’s bowling attack in the test against South Africa in Cape Town, accused Khawaja of being "casual” and "flippant” in suggesting everyone in the locker room knew about the sandpaper plot.
"When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he’s 100% 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 that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense.”
Khawaja said he published his account of the episode to support the three players he believed had been made scapegoats for the team.
Warner has publicly backed Khawaja, responding on social media that Cricket Australia’s investigation at the time was rushed and botched. Warner and Smith resumed their international careers in 2019 and remained key players for Australia. Warner retired in 2024, while Smith remains in the squad.
During a live preview on a TV commentary panel for Kayo Cricket ahead of the Australia-England ODI, Warner said he felt Cummins had "threw Uzzy under the bus and I’m very disappointed by that.”
Warner said players who were part of the team in 2018 would have differing opinions.
"At the end of the day, Pat’s not going to agree with me, I’m not going to agree with him,” Warner said. "He’s obviously spoken about what he thinks about Uzzy’s book, but I stand by Uzzy and his comments.
"For me it’s about accepting the truth, and I just don’t think this will rest.”
The team’s management has since undergone several changes. Head coach Darren Lehmann was replaced by Justin Langer after the South Africa series. Langer was succeeded by Andrew McDonald in 2022. Veteran wicketkeeper Tim Paine replaced Smith as test captain before Cummins took over in 2021.
Cricket Australia also has a new chairman and CEO, Todd Greenberg, who has ruled out reopening the Sandpapergate investigation.
Australia’s longtime bowling group, including Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, rejected suggestions in 2021 that everyone was involved in the plot to use sandpaper to help make the ball reverse swing, or move unconventionally through the air. Cummins and Starc have publicly reaffirmed their account of events this week.
In his autobiography, however, Khawaja said he was sitting beside Bancroft in the locker room when he heard about a plot to tamper with the ball and urged caution.
Cummins, who had played 13 tests by the time of the Cape Town match, turned the spotlight back on Khawaja on Friday. Khawaja retired from international cricket in January after playing 88 tests.
"I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper,” Cummins said, adding that Khawaja had been instrumental in helping the Australian squad move away from what he described as a sometimes ugly, win-at-all-costs culture.
"That’s not the Usman that I know. It’s not the Usman that I think has been part of a team that’s helped rebuild the Australian cricket culture over the last eight years,” he said. "And the one that would have stopped that from happening there and then.”