It was all of us – Usman Khawaja lifts lid on Australia sandpaper scandal

Usman Khawaja has claimed the entire Australia team and coaching staff were aware of the sandpaper plot that shocked the cricketing world in 2018, finally stating: “It was all of us.”

A huge ball-tampering scandal flared up in an ill-tempered series against South Africa eight years ago, with television cameras clearly showing Cameron Bancroft using sandpaper to help generate reverse swing during the third Test in Cape Town.

The aftermath saw captain Steve Smith and his deputy David Warner banned for a year while Bancroft, as a junior player, served nine months. Until now nobody else involved in the tour has ever admitted culpability, responsibility or even knowledge of what was happening.

The bowling unit of Pat Cummins – now Australia captain – Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon even released a statement in 2021 denying they knew anything about the illegal tactic.

But Khawaja, who retired after last winter’s Ashes and is promoting his new autobiography, has reopened the story and delivered his own seismic recollections. It is reported that the book will include an admission that the same tactic was first used in the previous Test at Gqeberha and that he was never interviewed by Cricket Australia in their subsequent investigation.

“It was all of us. Not the batters, not the bowlers, not the staff. All of us,” he told the Sydney Morning Herald, which is serialising the title.

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

Khawaja added that he was in favour of facing the subsequent storm as a team and expressed sympathy for those who took the flak, which went as far as then Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull branding the matter “a disgrace” and an “affront” to the nation.

In his memoir, named Sabr after an Arabic term for resilience and endurance, Khawaja has dedicated the chapter on Cape Town to Smith, Warner and Bancroft.

He added: “Even in the change rooms when I was talking to them after the game, I said, ‘Take this as a team. We did this as a team’. We knew what was going on, and we have to take it as a team, and so I was always of that stance.

“I’m not doing this for any other reason than I think it’s the right thing to do. I’ve always felt like there’s more to life than just cricket, and these guys, in some respect, deserve that justice. And it just doesn’t feel like anyone’s going to give it to them.

“None of those three want to be the first to say anything. And rightly so, it will just be hearsay and ‘their word’ if they do. They needed someone else to say something.”

Speaking ahead of Australia’s recent Test return to South Africa, Cummins revealed that he had given Khawaja his blessing to revisit the past after taking a phone call from his former team-mate.

“(I said) tell your story. It’s fine,” he said.

“It’s obviously a long time ago and all the investigations, everything, was done back then. We answered every question a million times. It was dealt with then, and all I can say is that as a group, we have moved on.”

Cummins, Starc and Hazlewood have all been rested from this month’s white-ball series against England, meaning they will avoid questioning on the subject for the time being. Cricket Australia has been approached for a response.