Usman Khawaja has brought the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal back into the news after claiming the whole team knew that the cheating was going on during the series against South Africa.
In his new autobiography, the former Australian opener also insisted that the tactic had been used before the match in Cape Town, when television cameras caught Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball in an attempt to generate reverse swing.
The scandal – nicknamed 'Sandpapergate' – sent shock waves through the cricketing world, resulting in bans for captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner and Bancroft, while coach Darren Lehmann would eventually resign, despite being cleared of direct involvement.
In 2021, the four bowlers who played in the match – current captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – issued a joint statement saying they “did not know a foreign substance was taken on to the field”.
That statement came about after Bancroft was asked in an interview with The Guardian whether he thought the bowlers were aware of what was going on. “It's pretty probably self-explanatory,” he replied.
In extracts of his book – published in the Sydney Morning Herald and entitled Sabr – Khawaja stated emphatically: “It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us.
“In an ideal world, I don't want to do this. I don't want to be the one who comes out and talks about the truth. The issue is that I genuinely thought after eight years the truth would have been out by now.”
Khawaja states that Bancroft first volunteered to use sandpaper on the ball during the second Test in Port Elizabeth before the plot came to light in the following match.
“Maybe I thought Davey would have exposed it, or someone else would have talked about it more. I just didn’t think it was going to come down to this,” said Khawaja, who retired from international duty after Australia's 4-1 Ashes thrashing of England last winter. “But the longer it’s gone on for, and right from the very start, I’ve been on the train of collectively taking it.
“Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game. I said, ‘Take this as a team’. We did this as a team. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance.
“Obviously, it didn’t work that way, and those three guys got crucified.”
The revelations prompted Lehman to come out on the defensive, denying Khawaja claims. “I don’t think everyone would have known,” Lehmann said on ABC Sport.
“You do know ball tampering is going on because it has been happening for 150 years. It’s just how it’s being done and how you would know to that extent? How the bowlers would know, how other players would know?
“I can’t speak for them, I can only know what I know, and I know ball tampering was a big part of the game of cricket. Now it’s obsolete. That doesn’t make it right either, but that’s the case, and we paid a heavy price for that.”
Cummins admitted ahead of Australia's recent Test series loss in South Africa that Khawaja had spoken to him about the upcoming book. “He didn't go into too much detail, just basically gave me the heads-up that he is doing a book and, as always, no worries,” Cummins said last month.
“Tell your story. It's fine. It's obviously a long time ago and all the investigations, everything was done back then and we answered every question a million times.”
Cricket Australia released a statement saying they “remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process” conducted at the time.
“There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month's series in South Africa,” CA said.
“During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case.”
