Australia’s Khawaja claims entire team knew about ‘Sandpapergate’

Usman Khawaja claimed on Saturday that the entire Australian team knew about the 2018 “Sandpapergate” scandal in Cape Town and said they also employed the tactic during the previous Test at Port Elizabeth.

Captain Steve Smith, his deputy David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were sent home in disgrace and found by a Cricket Australia investigation to be the only three players with prior knowledge of the ball-tampering plot.

Smith was banned for a year and sacked as skipper, Warner was suspended for 12 months and stripped of all leadership roles, while Bancroft was slapped with a nine-month ban.

But former opener Khawaja, who retired this year after 88 Tests, told the Sydney Morning Herald that everyone knew.

“It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” he said ahead of the release of his autobiography next week where a chapter is dedicated to the issue.

Bowlers Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon all denied publicly in 2021 that they knew about it.

Khawaja said he spoke in the dressing room after the Cape Town Test urging the team to take collective responsibility, rather than scapegoating Warner, Smith and Bancroft.

“In an ideal world, I don’t want to do this.” Khawaja said.

“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.

“Maybe I thought Davey (Warner) 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.”

Darren Lehmann, who was head coach at the time, denied there was widespread knowledge of the plot, while claiming ball-tampering was once ever-present in international cricket.

“I don’t think everybody would have known,” he told national broadcaster ABC.

“I can’t speak for them (the players) at all. I only know what I know, and I know that ball-tampering was a big part of the game of cricket.

“Now it’s obsolete, but that doesn’t make it right either and we paid a heavy price for that.”

Comfortable

Lehmann, who quit after the series, said Khawaja’s claims dredged up “bad memories” for him, the players and their families.

“For the families and the people involved, I feel for them right now because it’s taking them back to a really bad place,” he said.

“It’s been eight years. You get to a place where you move on, and I’ve moved on with my life.”

In the book, according to the newspaper, Khawaja recounts that discussions about ways to rough up the ball were first held in the dressing room during the second Test at Port Elizabeth, now known as Gqeberha.

It culminated in the discovery that sandpaper was effective and at this point Smith allegedly walked away, saying he did not want to know about it.

Bancroft then allegedly volunteered to use sandpaper in South Africa’s first innings in Gqeberha, where the ball swung significantly.

Cricket Australia said in a statement it was “comfortable” with the findings of its original investigation, but remained open to new evidence.

“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,” it said.

“During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case.

“All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process.”