Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has strongly rejected Usman Khawaja’s claims about the 2018 Cape Town ball-tampering scandal, speaking at a 68-minute press conference in Sydney on Friday, 13 November.

Khawaja, in his memoir “Sabr” published this week, claimed the whole Australian XI in Cape Town in 2018 knew sandpaper was being used, and that Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were made scapegoats. Cummins pushed back firmly.

“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out on the field, he’s 100% wrong,” Cummins said. “He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense.”

01. No master plan, Cummins says

Cummins said he was shocked to learn that Khawaja admitted telling Bancroft to be careful when using sandpaper, and insisted there was no master plan behind what happened. He also rejected Khawaja’s suggestion that his background prevented him from becoming captain.

At the same time, Cummins admitted the 2018 team had a “win-at-all-costs mentality”. He ruled out legal action, even though he had received legal advice that some of the claims could be defamatory, and said it was time to move on after eight years.

02. What happened in 2018

In 2018, Smith and Warner were banned for 12 months and Bancroft for nine months over the ball-tampering incident in Cape Town. Cricket Australia’s new chairman and CEO, Todd Greenberg, has ruled out reopening the investigation into the scandal.

Mitchell Starc has also denied Khawaja’s claims. With Cummins now speaking out, Australia’s senior players have made clear they want the matter closed.

03. Senior players want the matter closed

The dispute has put the 2018 scandal back in the headlines eight years on, but Cummins made clear he believes the record should stand as it was settled at the time. With Starc also denying the claims and Cricket Australia ruling out a fresh investigation, the team’s senior figures appear united in wanting to draw a line under the episode and focus on the cricket ahead.