Cummins rejects ‘Sandpapergate’ claims

Australian captain Pat Cummins responded to Usman Khawaja’s claims that the entire team was in on the ball-tampering plot that became known as “Sandpapergate” as “complete and utter nonsense.”

Cummins staged an extraordinary news conference yesterday at the Sydney Cricket Ground, hours ahead Australia’s home-season opening one-day international against England in Perth, to address the allegations published this week in his longtime teammate’s autobiography.

He opened the packed news conference by saying he was prepared to stay and answer questions all day if needed, because he wanted to draw a line under the sorry saga. Based on a subsequent response from David Warner, that is unlikely.

Australia’s Test cricket captain Pat Cummins speaks during a press conference in Sydney yesterday.

Photo: AFP

In the immediate aftermath of a Cricket Australia investigation into the cheating attempt in 2018, three players received unprecedented bans — Steve Smith and Warner, then captain and vice-captain, for 12 months; Cameron Bancroft, who was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball, for nine months.

The episode has remained so divisive that even eight years later the innuendo and acrimony would mean Cummins’ comments in a 70-minute live stand-up would not end questions over who knew what and when.

Cummins, who was part of the bowling attack in that Test in Cape Town against South Africa, accused Khawaja of being “casual” and “flippant” by suggesting everyone in the locker room was aware of the sandpaper plot.

“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he’s 100 percent wrong,” Cummins said. “I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening.”

“But I think Usman actually says things that are actually far more serious than that. He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense,” he added.

Khawaja said he published his account of the episode in a bid to support the three players who he believed had been made scapegoats for the team.

He has had public support from Warner, who responded on social media that the Cricket Australia investigation at the time was rushed and botched. Warner and Smith resumed their international careers in 2019 and remained key players for Australia. Warner retired in 2024, and Smith is still in the squad.

The management has been overhauled. Head coach Darren Lehmann was replaced after the South Africa series by Justin Langer, who was succeeded by Andrew McDonald in 2022. Veteran wicketkeeper Tim Paine replaced Smith as test captain before Cummins took over in 2021.

Cricket Australia has a new chairman and CEO, Todd Greenberg, who has ruled out reopening the Sandpapergate investigation.

The longtime bowling group, including Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon, in 2021 rejected innuendo that everyone was in on the plot to use sandpaper to help make the ball “reverse” — or swing unconventionally through the air.