Australia’s cricket captain, Pat Cummins, has categorically dismissed Usman Khawaja’s claims that the entire Australian XI from Cape Town in 2018 was aware of sandpaper being used during the match. Addressing reporters at a Sydney press conference, Cummins labelled Khawaja’s allegations as “complete and utter nonsense” and insisted, “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.”
The session, lasting 68 minutes, saw Cummins challenge the accusations, especially concerning the suggestion of a team-endorsed scheme to tamper with the ball. “He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball-tamper with sandpaper. That’s complete and utter nonsense,” he stated, expressing surprise at Khawaja’s claims and stressing the impact on reputations, “Usman’s a friend, but friends aren’t casual with each other’s lives and reputations.”
Cummins fully acknowledged Khawaja’s right to share his story but urged accountability for such statements. He refuted the notion of any planned strategy involving illegal means to manipulate the ball’s behaviour. “There was no master-plan around using illegal methods,” Cummins clarified, dismissing assumptions of premeditated tactics, and emphasised the absence of a “grand plan.”
Reflecting on his career, Cummins recalled witnessing ball-tampering only once, involving a teammate misusing a bottle cap in a domestic match, without revealing further details. “That was the one time I’ve seen [something illegal] on the field,” he remarked, and mentioned that umpires intervened promptly.
Khawaja’s book also suggested he had sought collective ownership of the incident by the team, a claim Cummins denied, saying, “I don’t remember any conversation around collective responsibility. No one remembers a team meeting where someone stood up and said, ‘We got to all own this.'”
Cummins’ forthright response aims to address the controversy while maintaining the focus on playing fair and honourably—priorities central to the reputation he and his teammates are keen to uphold.
