Pat Cummins has challenged claims made by Usman Khawaja about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, insisting the Cricket Australia investigation handled the matter properly. Khawaja’s recent book suggested a broader knowledge among the Australian team about the sandpaper incident, but Cummins rejected those suggestions.
“There’s a very proper way to do things and improve,” Cummins said. “I think that investigation was a proper way to do it.” He referred to the official inquiry conducted shortly after the incident, which questioned all involved players quickly and thoroughly.
Cummins acknowledged the possibility of debate around the fairness of the judgments handed down by Cricket Australia but said, “What can you do? I got asked all the questions, answered them all fairly. That’s my story, so I think he’s wrong.”
The 2018 incident involved Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball during a Test match in South Africa. The scandal led to bans for Bancroft, captain Steve Smith, and vice-captain David Warner. Khawaja’s account suggested there may have been conversations about ball-tampering knowledge beyond those three players, implicating wider team awareness.
Cummins refused that interpretation. “The details really matter in that difference. So perhaps there was conversations with Cameron Bancroft around taking sandpaper out and how to do it. That doesn’t mean that everyone in that dressing room knew what was going on.”
Cricket Australia’s investigation took place within days of the Test match in March 2018. It involved interviews with the team and led to sanctions that altered the careers of the players involved. Cummins supported the process and its timing, indicating that the governing body acted swiftly.
He did not directly respond to Khawaja’s broader claims but stuck to his own experience of the inquiry. Cummins’s comments came amid ongoing discussion about the incident’s legacy and the culture within Australian cricket at the time.
This week’s statements from Cummins form part of a continuing conversation about transparency and accountability in cricket, five years after the ball-tampering episode.
According to The Guardian.
