‘I’d stick it on my thumb’: Former Aussie star admits he used sandpaper after Usman Khawaja revelation – WATCH

The Sandpapergate controversy has resurfaced in Australian cricket, eight years after the scandal in 2018. (Image credit: Agencies) The Sandpapergate controversy has resurfaced in Australian cricket, eight years after the scandal in 2018. Following fresh revelations by former Australian batsman Usman Khawaja in his memoir ‘Sabr’, former netballer Stuart MacGill has now admitted to using sandpaper on the ball during his playing career.MacGill, who played 44 Tests and three ODIs for Australia between 1998 and 2008, said he used sandpaper on the ball but insisted it was not part of a larger plan to cheat.His admission added another twist to the Sandpapergate controversy, which took place during Australia’s Test against South Africa in Cape Town in 2018. The incident led to the banning of three Australian players and remains one of the biggest controversies in Australian cricket.

MacGill reveals how he used sandpaper

Speaking to former Sydney Sixers teammates Steve O’Keefe and Moises Henriques on YouTube’s FanaticsTV, MacGill explained how he would attach a small piece of sandpaper to his thumb and use it to scratch the ball.“I would cut a small piece of sandpaper and stick it on my thumb,” he said. “It wasn’t part of a massive ‘global hoax’; I was just really curious to see what would happen and if it would work. And wow, it does (laughs),” MacGill said.He also explained how he would use the sandpaper after tea, take it off his thumb and throw it away before the match continued.“What they’d do was the umpires, when you’re walking down the ground, would put the ball like 20 meters out of bounds and leave it there and you’d run out onto the pitch and pick it up and go onto the pitch. I stuck a piece of a square of sandpaper on my thumb, picked up the ball just after tea, scraped the living daylights out of it, yanked the ball out of it before it was even bowled, so no one even knew I’d bowled he did, apart from all the scratches on the ball,” he added.

Khawaja’s claim reopens Sandpapergate

MacGill’s confession comes after Khawaja made new claims about the 2018 ball-tampering scandal in his memoir ‘Sabr’.Cricket Australia says Australia’s wider team was unaware of a plan to use sandpaper to change the condition of the ball during the Cape Town Test against South Africa.However, Khawaja’s revelations raised fresh questions about what other players knew about the incident.Darren Lehmann, who was Australia’s head coach during the 2018 tour of South Africa, strongly denied any knowledge of the plan to use sandpaper. Players like Mitchell Starc have also publicly denied any involvement in the scandal.Former Australia captain David Warner, one of three players punished for the incident, backed Khawaja and said the claims in his autobiography were true.