Usman Khawaja insists ‘all of us’ involved in 2018 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.

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 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. Smith said in September the episode was a “traumatic experience” and he was “thrown to the wolves” in the aftermath.

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’.

“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.”

In response, a spokesperson for Cricket Australia told the Press Association: “There has been a great deal of speculation in the eight years since the 2018 Cape Town Test, including extensive media coverage throughout last month’s series in South Africa.

“During this time there has been the ongoing opportunity to present any relevant information, and this remains the case. All relevant information presented to CA to date has been properly considered and we remain comfortable with the findings of our integrity process.”

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 but Mitch Marsh, who played at Newlands, is set to serve as captain and is likely to face questioning on Khawaja’s revelations.