sports
Khawaja says whole Australia team knew about sandpaper
Usman Khawaja claims the entire Australia cricket team knew about ball tampering with sandpaper during the 2018 series against South Africa. The scandal resulted in bans for Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft.
Australian opener Usman Khawaja claims the entire Australia team knew about the use of sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the 2018 series against South Africa, according to BBC News.
The scandal, known as Sandpapergate, erupted during the third Test in Cape Town in March 2018. Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper to alter the ball. Steve Smith, the captain, and David Warner, the vice-captain, were subsequently banned for 12 months. Bancroft received a nine-month ban.
Khawaja’s claim, made in a recent interview, goes beyond what Cricket Australia’s investigation found. The 2018 review, led by Iain Roy, concluded that only Smith, Warner and Bancroft had knowledge of the plan. No other players or staff were sanctioned.
The incident remains one of the most notorious in cricket history. Smith and Warner returned to the national side in 2019. Bancroft has played two Tests since his ban. Khawaja himself was not in the XI for the Cape Town Test where the tampering occurred.
What the coverage missed
The coverage focused on Khawaja’s claim. The part that got less attention is what it means for the investigation that followed.
Cricket Australia’s review was conducted in 48 hours. It interviewed only the three players who were sanctioned. No other members of the touring party were formally questioned. The head coach, Darren Lehmann, was initially cleared before resigning days later.
If the whole team knew, the investigation did not ask the right people. A review that interviews only the accused and clears everyone else is not an investigation. It is a press release.
The sanctions also look different under this light. Smith and Warner were banned for a year. The players who knew and said nothing received no punishment. The system punished the architects and let the bystanders keep their caps.
What I think
Khawaja is saying what most people who follow cricket already suspected. The idea that a ball-tampering plan was hatched by three players in a team meeting without anyone else noticing was never plausible. Cricket teams spend all day together. A plan that involves hiding sandpaper in your pocket and using it on the ball is not a secret you keep from the people standing next to you.
The investigation was designed to end the story, not to find the truth. Cricket Australia needed a quick resolution to limit commercial damage. It got one. Three players were punished, the coach resigned, and the story was declared closed.
Khawaja’s claim reopens it. If the whole team knew, the sanctions were too narrow and the investigation was too shallow. The sport has not reckoned with what happened in Cape Town. It reckoned with three players and moved on.
The claim also puts Khawaja in a difficult position. He was not in the XI at Cape Town, but he was on the tour. If he knew, he said nothing for eight years. If he did not know, his claim is based on what teammates told him, which is secondhand. Either way, the silence is part of the story.