Usman Khawaja Claims All of Australia's 2018 Ball-Tampering Scandal Was Team-Wide Knowledge

Usman Khawaja has reignited discussion around the 2018 Australian ball-tampering scandal, asserting that the entire team was aware of the illicit activity during the series against South Africa. In his recently published autobiography, the former Australian opener contends that this tactic was employed even before the match in Cape Town, where Cameron Bancroft was filmed using sandpaper to alter the ball's condition for reverse swing. This incident, widely dubbed 'Sandpapergate', sent significant shockwaves through the cricket community, leading to suspensions for captain Steve Smith, vice-captain David Warner, and Bancroft. Coach Darren Lehmann also resigned, despite initial clearance of direct involvement.

In 2021, the four bowlers who participated in that match – current captain Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon – released a joint statement denying knowledge of any foreign substance being brought onto the field. This statement followed an interview with The Guardian where Bancroft, when asked if the bowlers were aware, responded, “It's pretty probably self-explanatory.”

Extracts from Khawaja's book, titled 'Sabr' and featured in the Sydney Morning Herald, emphatically state: “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 further details that Bancroft initially offered to use sandpaper on the ball during the second Test in Port Elizabeth, prior to the scheme being exposed in the subsequent 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,” Khawaja remarked, having retired from international cricket after Australia's substantial Ashes victory over 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.”

These assertions prompted a defensive response from Lehmann, who denied that everyone would have been aware. “I don’t think everyone would have known,” Lehmann stated 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.”

Pat Cummins acknowledged last month, ahead of Australia's recent Test series defeat in South Africa, that Khawaja had informed him about the forthcoming 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. “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 issued a statement affirming 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 commented. “During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case.”