Khawaja claims whole Australian squad aware of 2018 sandpaper cheating

Usman Khawaja says every member of the Australian cricket team knew about the sandpaper used to tamper with the ball in the final Test of their 2018 series against South Africa. The episode, dubbed “sandpapergate”, led to three‑month bans for captain Steve Smith, vice‑captain David Warner and Cameron Bancroft after video showed the ball being altered at Newlands in Cape Town.

What Happened

Khawaja revealed in his autobiography “Sabr”, published in the Sydney Morning Herald, that discussions about using sandpaper began in the second Test at Port Elizabeth (now Gqeberha). He wrote that teammates openly talked about the “discovery of sandpaper as an effective agent” in the dressing‑room at St George’s Park. He said Steve Smith “threw his hands in the air” and claimed he did not want to know.

Reactions

The four bowlers who played the Cape Town match – Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon – have repeatedly denied prior knowledge. In 2021 they issued a joint statement saying they only learned of the foreign substance after seeing TV images. Bancroft, when asked by the Guardian, called the bowlers’ ignorance “self‑explanatory”. Cummins later told reporters he had spoken to Khawaja about the book and felt the matter was “all dealt with then”.

Context

Ball‑tampering violates the Laws of Cricket and can bring heavy sanctions. The 2018 scandal prompted a wide inquiry and damaged the reputation of Australian cricket for years.