The fallout from sandpapergate continues to rage. David Warner, the former Australian opener, on Saturday alleged that Cricket Australia never interviewed Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon during its investigation into the ball-tampering scandal eight years ago.
For the sandpapergate incident from the Test in Cape Town Test between South Africa and Australia in 2018, Warner and then captain Steve Smith were banned for 12 months while Cameron Bancroft was given a nine-month suspension. Moreover, it was also revealed that Warner would never be able to lead Australia ever again.
The verdict was given after Cricket Australia conducted a thorough investigation, which Warner has now deemed a “cover-up.”
“As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Nathan Lyon or Mitchell Starc in their 2018 investigation. If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?” Warner wrote on Instagram.
“It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover-up,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}“It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover-up,” he added.
{{/usCountry}}The incident from eight years ago has become a raging topic of discussion recently after former Australia opener Usman Khawaja claimed in his autobiography ‘Sabr’ that the entire team knew about the use of sandpaper to tamper with the ball.
Warner has supported Khawaja's claims, and on Saturday he stated that if the bowling group wasn't interviewed by the body, how could they claim they had no knowledge of it?
Warner, however, has not named current Australian captain Pat Cummins, who also played the Cape Town Test in 2018.
The controversy
Back in 2021, the bowling group comprising Cummins, Hazlewood, Starc and Lyon had released a statement saying they weren't aware that the sandpaper was being taken out to the field. The stance is maintained by them till date.
On Friday, Cummins addressed a 68-minute long press conference, where he denied all the claims made by Khawaja, calling the allegations “complete and utter nonsense.”
Hours after Cummins' public statement, Warner slammed the Australian captain, saying he threw Khawaja “under the bus” and he feels for his childhood friend.
Khawaja also stated in his book that the ball tampering episode also happened in a Test prior to Cape Town, but Cummins denied this too.
However, Cummins did admit that the culture within the dressing room back in the day was not ideal and the players had a “win-at-all-costs” mentality.