Skip to content Pat Cummins has rarely sounded this angry, firing back after former teammate Usman Khawaja accused the entire Australian team of knowing about the 2018 Cape Town ball tampering plot.
Speaking to reporters in Sydney, the Australia captain rejected Khawaja’s claims in blunt terms. He called the allegations “100% wrong” and described suggestions that he helped orchestrate the scheme as “complete and utter nonsense.”
Also read: Pat Cummins Sandpaper Scandal: Captain to Face Media
The dispute reopens the deepest wound in modern Australian cricket just as Khawaja releases his autobiography this week. For Cummins, the book crosses an unacceptable line between former dressing room allies.
What Pat Cummins said in Sydney
Addressing the media in an extraordinary press conference, Cummins refused to let the claims slide. He insisted his position has never changed since the scandal broke six years ago.
Khawaja wrote that the entire playing squad knew about the plan to use sandpaper and should have accepted shared responsibility. Cummins firmly drew the line at that assertion.
“When he says we all knew, if by that he means we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he’s 100% wrong.”
Cummins made clear that he was never part of any discussion to alter the ball. He also pushed back against being painted as a mastermind behind the scheme.
“I said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening,” Cummins said. “He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense.”
Khawaja’s book and the Cape Town fallout
The sandpaper scandal remains Australian cricket’s darkest hour of the century. During the 2018 Test against South Africa in Cape Town, television cameras caught Cameron Bancroft rubbing the match ball with sandpaper.
Cricket Australia subsequently handed lengthy bans to Bancroft, captain Steve Smith and vice-captain David Warner. The governing body found those three carried sole responsibility for the plot at the time.
Yet Khawaja’s new book reopens that conclusion. The former batter claims the wider team knew what was happening and allowed three men to carry the blame alone.
Those words carry real weight because Khawaja was a senior figure in that dressing room. By putting those allegations in print, he has forced his former teammates to defend their names all over again.
Why Pat Cummins feels betrayed by a friend
The public clash hurts both men because their shared history runs deep. The pair played 56 Tests together before Khawaja retired from international cricket in January.
Khawaja was in the Australia XI when Pat Cummins made his memorable Test debut in Johannesburg back in 2011. They also shared a dressing room for years in domestic cricket with New South Wales.
Because of that bond, Cummins felt the accusations were careless. He argued that friendship requires basic care for someone’s standing in the sport.
“Usman is a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations,” Cummins said. “In his book he’s been casual with my life and the lives of many others – and, I think, Australian cricket.”
While Cummins acknowledged Khawaja has the right to share his experiences, he stressed that public claims must carry accountability. Words in print have lasting consequences for everyone involved.
“I support him to tell his story, 100%, I’m glad he feels like he can,” Cummins added. “But we have to be accountable for the things that we say and do.”
What comes next for Australian cricket
This war of words creates an awkward split inside the Australian cricket fraternity. Current players and retired stars now face uncomfortable questions about an event they spent years trying to move past.
Pat Cummins has worked tirelessly to rebuild the culture and public image of the national team since taking over the captaincy. Watching an old friend challenge that integrity threatens to derail that progress.
With Khawaja’s autobiography landing in bookshops this week, scrutiny will quickly shift to whether other members of that 2018 squad speak out publicly.
Source: BBC Sport
