Australia captain Pat Cummins vehemently denied any involvement in the plot to use sandpaper for ball-tampering during the 2018 Test series in South Africa, stating that the allegations in Usman Khawaja's autobiography are “utter nonsense”.
Former Australia batsman Khawaja said that all the players in the team at Newlands knew about the plan to alter the condition of the ball, putting the spotlight back on the scandal that cost Steve Smith and David Warner their leadership positions and Cameron Bancroft a significant part of his career.
Cummins said Khawaja's statements are incorrect.
“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he's 100 per cent wrong. I've said that consistently for the last eight years,” Cummins said in Sydney.
“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.
“There was no master plan around using illegal methods,” he added. “There's no grand plan. There's no team meeting. There's no bowlers saying 'this is what must happen'.”
The Australia captain also took exception to Pakistan-born Khawaja's allegation that he was not considered for Australia's captaincy because of his ethnicity.
“I think of all the things that I've read this week, I think that's actually the most serious,” he said.
“Him saying that if you're Australian captain, you have to be a certain skin colour, I couldn't disagree with that statement any more.
“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. And I just don't think that's the case.”
Opening batter Bancroft, who brought a piece of sandpaper onto the field, received a nine-month suspension for his part in the ball-tampering.
“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,” Cummins added.
Later on Friday, Warner said the trio had paid a heavy price for the incident and revealed that his wife Candice had lost a baby in the aftermath of the incident.
“I still stick by Uzzie and what he has written in that book. It is the truth,” the former opener said in TV commentary for the ODI series against England.
“I actually feel for Khawaja at the moment. I actually feel that the captain today threw Uzzie under the bus and I'm very disappointed by that.”
Cummins said that while Khawaja has every right to tell his story in the autobiography, he believes some of the allegations were very serious and needed to be addressed.
“Usman's a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations,” he said.
“In his book, Uzzie has been casual with my life and the lives of many others, and I think Australian cricket.”
