Pat Cummins seen having an animated chat with his wife before the Sandpapergate press conference

Australia captain Pat Cummins was spotted having a live chat with his wife Becky on a Sydney street in his first public appearance since Usman Khawaja’s explosive claims about the ball-tampering scandal in 2018. The footage comes as Cummins braces for the controversy surrounding Khawaja’s autobiography Sabr.

According to footage released by The Australian on Wednesday, Cummins and Becky were seen engaged in an argument before entering a nearby property. Dressed in a t-shirt and shorts, the Australian captain appeared relatively quiet during the exchange. He is currently resting from Australia’s white-ball series against England ahead of their upcoming four-Test series against New Zealand.

Cummins previously claimed that the 2018 scandal had been thoroughly investigated and that the Australian team had moved on from the episode.

“It’s obviously a long time ago. All the investigations, everything was done back then. I’ve answered every question a million times,” Cummins said.

“It was dealt with then, I can just say we’ve moved on as a band. Very happy with the last eight or nine years of us being a band and evolving. He didn’t go into too much detail… As always, it was ‘no worries, you can tell your story, that’s fine’.”

Khawaja’s autobiography reopened the debate over the 2018 Cape Town Test, when Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to modify the ball. Cricket Australia subsequently suspended Bancroft, David Warner and Steve Smith, with the latter two also losing their leadership positions.

KHAWAJA BUILDING THE BOWLING GROUP UNDER THE MAIN SHEET

Khawaja claimed that knowledge of the ball-handling plan spread throughout the Australian dressing room and coaching staff and that the practice started during the previous Test in Port Elizabeth. He also questioned why the inquiry did not interview him even though he was part of the traveling team.

Warner supported Khawaja’s account, describing his claims as accurate. Mitchell Starc, however, stood by the bowling group’s earlier stance that they were unaware of the sandpaper that had found its way onto the pitch.

Cummins has now called a press conference at Cricket Central in Sydney on Friday morning, offering to answer questions about the allegations. He said he took time to understand the full extent of Khawaja’s claims before responding.

The performance will put the Australian captain under fresh scrutiny, particularly over what the bowling group knew about events in South Africa and the joint statement issued by the quartet in 2021.

– The end