Former Australian opening batter Usman Khawaja has claimed that the entire Australian touring party was aware of the ball-tampering plot during the 2018 tour of South Africa. In his upcoming memoir, Sabr, Khawaja asserts that the use of sandpaper was not limited to the infamous Cape Town incident but was also discussed and utilized during the previous Test in Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha.
Khawaja’s Claims of Collective Knowledge
The allegations directly contradict previous findings by Cricket Australia, which maintained that only Cameron Bancroft, Steve Smith, and David Warner had prior knowledge of the scheme. Khawaja, however, maintains that the awareness extended to the entire dressing room, including players and staff.
It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,
Usman Khawaja, via Nine newspapers
Khawaja explained that he had advocated for the team to take responsibility collectively, even in the dressing room following the games. Khawaja said in his book that he told his teammates, ‘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,
though he noted that the reality resulted in only three players being punished. He said, Obviously, it didn’t work that way, and those three guys got crucified.
Khawaja noted that he spent years wrestling with whether to speak up formally in a way that might have forced Cricket Australia to reopen its investigation. He expressed surprise that he was never interviewed during the initial integrity process, despite having played in the Cape Town Test and sitting next to Bancroft in the dressing room. He told Nine newspapers that he felt he was not interviewed because officials knew he wanted to take the matter as a team and would have told the truth if asked.
Timeline of Sandpaper Use in South Africa
According to Khawaja’s account, the discovery of sandpaper as an effective agent occurred during the second Test at St George’s Park in Gqeberha. He claims that open discussions regarding the material took place in the dressing room, at which point captain Steve Smith reportedly indicated he did not want to be involved in such discussions. Khawaja wrote that at this point, Smith essentially threw his hands in the air and said he did not want to know about it.
Australia used sandpaper to tamper with the ball in a Test match before the infamous Cape Town scandal in 2018, Usman Khawaja is to reveal.@NHoultCricket reports on the revelations that could reopen one of cricket’s biggest cheating scandals ⬇️https://t.co/CIJI8PFgXu pic.twitter.com/hUC4gc4nTf
— https://x.com/TeleCricket/status/2118809533472485710
The strategy then moved to the field during the third Test at Newlands in Cape Town, where television cameras captured Bancroft using the object to help generate reverse swing. Khawaja claims Bancroft volunteered to use the sandpaper during the first innings of that Test. Khawaja, who sat next to Bancroft during that match, observed who spoke to the young batter during the game that would lead to the team being caught out.
Contrasting Accounts from Players and Officials
The claims stand in opposition to the public stances taken by several members of the Australian bowling attack. In 2021, Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood, and Nathan Lyon issued a joint statement denying any knowledge of the tampering. Sky Sports noted that this denial followed comments from Bancroft, who had suggested that whether the bowlers had prior knowledge was probably self-explanatory.
In their 2021 statement, the quartet asserted they did not know a foreign substance was used to change the ball until they saw images on the big screen at Newlands. They also noted that respected umpires Nigel Llong and Richard Illingworth inspected the ball after the television coverage surfaced and did not change it because there were no signs of damage. The players requested an end to innuendo, stating it had gone on too long.
| Individual | Sanction Received (2018) |
|---|---|
| Steve Smith | 12-month ban |
| David Warner | 12-month ban |
Cricket Australia has responded to the new allegations by stating they remain confident in their initial integrity process. A spokesperson for the agency said that there has been significant speculation and media coverage in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, but they remain comfortable with the findings of their investigation.
Cummins stated that the matter was dealt with years ago, saying, All the investigations, everything, was done back then. Answered every question a million times. It was dealt with then,
and added that as a group, they have moved on.
Reflecting on the aftermath, Khawaja said the best thing to come out of the incident was that the Australian team found humility again. He credited coach Justin Langer with helping to put humility back into the team, describing the process as beautiful.
Khawaja’s memoir, Sabr, is scheduled for publication by Penguin Random House on November 10. The book was compiled using contemporaneous notes Khawaja took on his laptop at the team’s Sandton hotel with the support of his wife-to-be, Rachel.
