Australia captain Pat Cummins has called a press conference for Friday to have his say on 'Sandpapergate' after former team-mate Usman Khawaja's explosive claims that the entire dressing room knew about the ball-tampering scheme that took place on the tour of South Africa in 2018. Khawaja made the revelations in his new book 'Sabr', bringing the scandal back onto the agenda after eight years. Cummins has been rested from the white-ball series against England, which also begins on Friday with the first ODI in Perth, but has publicly invited a media grilling in Sydney that same morning.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player "I'm training at Cricket Central (in Sydney) tomorrow morning before the Blues play in the Shield match," Cummins posted on X on Thursday. "Happy to speak with any and all media about the events of this week at 9.30 am. "I've taken some time to try and better understand the long list and full extent of Uzzy's allegations so I can respond properly." In the immediate aftermath of the Cape Town Test in 2018, in which Cameron Bancroft was caught using sandpaper on the ball, only he, then captain Steve Smith and David Warner - who said on Monday that Khawaja's version of events was "100 per cent accurate" - were banned.
Khawaja's revelations have invited renewed speculation over the role of the bowling group which benefitted from the ball manipulation - with Cummins, Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc and Nathan Lyon having previously distanced themselves from the episode. In 2021, the quartet issued a carefully worded statement responding to "rumour mongering and innuendo" in which they denied knowing that a foreign substance had been taken onto the field to alter the ball in order to try and make it swing. Cricket Australia chairman David Boon has backed Cummins, saying his job as skipper is not under threat.
"We absolutely support Pat," Boon said in comments published by The Australian on Thursday. "He's been an exemplary captain, he's led the team with integrity and, you know, very successfully over the period of time that he's been captain, so there's no question of our confidence in him continuing on in that fact." Speaking to reporters on Tuesday, after Cricket Australia chief executive Todd Greenberg insisted there would be no re-opening of the 'Sandpapergate' investigation, Starc said of Khawaja's claims: "I haven't really paid much attention to it to be fair. "There are differing opinions of eight years ago.
We were heavily grilled through the process, at the time and since. "I won't speak on behalf of the bowlers but from where I stand my opinion hasn't changed, my recollection hasn't changed from what we said in 2021. "As far as our statement said, we weren't aware of things being taken on the field.
That's where I'll leave it. "I will be sticking to what I said five years ago, what I said at the time eight years ago, so clearly there are differing versions from different people. "We weren't aware of anything taken on the field to be tampered with.
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