‘CA didn’t interview Josh Hazlewood, Starc or Lyon’: David Warner makes bombshell new ball-tampering claim, accuses Cricket Australia of ‘cover-up’

Former Australian opener David Warner has accused Cricket Australia (CA) of covering up details of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, questioning the governing body’s investigation into the incident.In a further development in the controversy that has rocked Australian cricket, Warner claimed CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon during its investigation in the days after the 2018 Cape Town Test.Warner made the allegation in an Instagram post on Saturday, a day after he accused Test captain Pat Cummins of throwing Usman Khawaja under the bus following the publication of Khawaja’s memoir, Sabr.His latest comments came a day after Cummins addressed the allegations made in Khawaja’s book during a lengthy press conference. The Australian captain dismissed the claims as “complete and utter nonsense”.“To my knowledge CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation,” Warner wrote on Instagram.“If this is correct, how can CA push an idea that was not known to the bowlers?“It looks like they decided from the start who they wanted to charge, they did a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to perpetuate a false narrative that the pitchers had no idea about. It reeks of a cover-up.”The ball-tampering scandal returned to the spotlight after Khawaja made several claims while promoting his book, claiming that the entire Australian team knew about the plan to use sandpaper on the ball during the Cape Town Test.Cummins rejected the claims on Friday, while CA had previously said it had no intention of re-opening its investigation into the incident.Warner also responded to Cummins’ comments on Friday afternoon, ahead of Australia’s opening ODI of the summer against England. He said he felt “the captain threw Uzzie under the bus today.”The former Australian opener followed it up with another post on Instagram on Saturday, questioning the way CA handled the investigation.Warner and then captain Steve Smith were banned for a year by CA following the incident, while Cameron Bancroft received a nine-month ban.