No upside in reopening Sandpapergate probe: Cricket Australia on Khawaja’s claims

Cricket Australia has responded to Usman Khawaja’s new and explosive claims about the Sandpapergate saga. In his new book Sabr, the former cricketer claimed that the entire Australian team, including the coaching staff, knew the team was using sandpaper to roughen the ball.

The claim directly contradicts a Cricket Australia investigation at the time, which found only three players, Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, were involved. The bowling group, which included Pat Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon, had no knowledge of the ball-tampering conspiracy.

Cricket Australia CEO Todd Greenberg has now responded to Khawaja’s claims, saying there was absolutely no benefit to be had in reopening the investigation. He added that the board remained satisfied with its progress and wanted Cricket Australia to look forward rather than deal with the controversy again.

Khawaja and Warner both contested the investigation, with the former claiming the entire process was botched. Khawaja said that despite sitting next to Bancroft during the hearing, he was not asked a single question.

The former opener also claimed twice that he wanted to come clean, first in the immediate aftermath of the incident and then again in 2021. However, he claimed to have been stopped on both occasions, first by Smith and later by a statement from Australia’s bowling group, which denied any involvement in the row.

Speaking to SEN’s Adam White on Tuesday, Greenberg said he was very appreciative of Khawaja for sharing his version of events, but warned against jumping to conclusions from the headlines surrounding the book.

“I read his comments over the weekend in the media, right at the same time as the public, and of course I will read his book at some point,” Greenberg said.

“But there are specific details in his book that contradict the versions that others have given. And I want to be really careful to consider what Usman actually said and not react to the headlines or the follow-up comments that are going to be made.”

Greenberg claimed that players were encouraged to log in at the time of the investigation and continued to be able to share their accounts for the past eight years.

“There is absolutely no advantage to going back. That is the position of the CA board, it is time to look forward,” he said.

The Cricket Australia boss also hinted that the controversy could continue to attract various accounts as more team members publish their own books.

“I’m sure David will publish a book and I have no doubt that several others from this masterful group of Australian cricketers will publish a book,” Greenberg said.

“It is highly likely that our captain (Pat Cummins) will publish a book at some point. Others will also publish a book and unfortunately I think what we will be reading are different versions of events.”

In his autobiography, Khawaja claimed responsibility for what happened in Cape Town in 2018 went beyond Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

“It was all of us. Not the batsmen, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” Khawaja told Nine ahead of the book’s release.

The former Australian prime minister said he did not want to be the person to deal with the scandal again, but felt the truth had been buried for too long.

“In an ideal world, I don’t want to do that. I don’t want to be the one to come out and talk about the truth. The problem is, I honestly thought that after eight years the truth would have come out,” he said.

Khawaja also took to Instagram after the backlash to his comments and clarified that he was not speaking on behalf of anyone else in his book.

“Now that everyone is talking, am I going to deny that everyone knew? No. I’m not even going to deny it,” he wrote.

“But I never speak for anyone else in my book. Contrary to all the headlines the clickbait media would have you think.”

The Sandpapergate scandal erupted during the third Test between Australia and South Africa in Cape Town in March 2018, when television cameras caught Bancroft using sandpaper to change the condition of the ball.

The fallout was significant. Smith, the then Australian captain, Warner and Bancroft were dismissed and Smith and Warner were also stripped of their leadership positions. The incident remains one of Australian cricket’s darkest episodes and Khawaja’s latest claims have brought fresh scrutiny to an investigation that Cricket Australia appears unwilling to re-examine.

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