Australia captain Pat Cummins has played down concerns that Usman Khawaja’s upcoming autobiography could bring fresh attention to the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, also known as Sandpapergate.Australia are returning to South Africa for the first time since the scandal. The three-Test series begins at Kingsmead on Friday, but Cummins said the incident had already been dealt with and the team had moved on.
Cummins says the team has moved on
Cummins was part of the Australian bowling attack during the Test against South Africa in Cape Town in March 2018. Australia were caught using sandpaper to rough up one side of the ball illegally to generate more swing.The scandal created a major crisis for Cricket Australia. Captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft, who was caught with sandpaper in his pocket, were banned for their roles in the incident.Cummins and fellow bowlers Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon denied knowing about the ball-tampering.All four are now back in South Africa for the three-Test series.Cummins confirmed that he had spoken to Khawaja, who was also part of the Australian team during the 2018 Test at Newlands. However, he said they did not discuss the matter in detail.“Didn’t go back into too much detail. He just basically gave me the heads-up that he’s doing a book, and yeah, as always, no worries. Tell your story. It’s fine,” Cummins said.
Khawaja’s book could revisit the scandal
Australian media reports have said that Khawaja had wanted the entire team to accept collective responsibility after the scandal. However, the suggestion was reportedly rejected at the time.Cummins said he did not know what Khawaja had written in his autobiography, which is due to be published next month.“You need to ask him,” he said. “It’s obviously a long time ago. All the investigations, everything was done back then. Answered every question a million times. So, yeah, it was dealt with then. Now all I can say is, as a group, we moved on, very happy with the last eight years, how we’ve been as a group and evolved.”
Broadcaster takes a dig at Australia
South African broadcaster SuperSport, whose cameras captured the ball-tampering incident in 2018, has also brought the episode back into focus.The broadcaster shared a social media clip showing Bancroft using sandpaper on the ball and the Australian team’s reaction after the players were caught.SuperSport added a warning ahead of the upcoming series, saying: “Our cameras will be sharp for this 3-match test series.”
