Photo: Collected
What Usman Khawaja said is 100 per cent right — David Warner made this claim in a recent video message about the ball-tampering scandal at the 2018 Cape Town Test. He was Australia’s opener at the time. Australian cricket is once again in turmoil over that much-discussed episode in South Africa. He also sharply criticised Cricket Australia (CA), alleging that its investigation was rushed and flawed.
Last week Khawaja alleged that everyone in the Australia side at the time knew about the use of sandpaper. Yet the team’s bowlers have consistently claimed all these years that they knew nothing. Khawaja expressed his dissatisfaction, saying the truth should have come out, even if eight years later. He also said he had been surprised that CA’s investigation took no testimony or information from him.
After Khawaja’s remarks, the 40-year-old retired batter Warner stood by him in a video message on his Instagram. In his words, what Usman said is 100 per cent accurate, and everyone now knows the real truth.
Warner said Khawaja was sitting right next to Cameron Bancroft in the dressing room, yet he was never asked anything. Questioning how that could be called a thorough investigation, he demanded that the incident be re-examined.
For using sandpaper to alter the condition of the ball in that Cape Town Test, captain Steve Smith and David Warner were banned for a year and batter Cameron Bancroft for nine months. But the investigation offered no explanation of how the side’s four main bowlers — Pat Cummins, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon — failed to notice the tampering of the ball.
In a joint statement in 2021, these four bowlers claimed they had not known about any foreign object being used on the field.
Pat Cummins has been Australia’s Test captain since 2021. All of those bowlers still play regularly for the side.
Warner, who retired from international cricket in 2024, scored 8,786 Test runs. He said he came forward to respond to Khawaja’s comments after explaining what happened that day to his daughters. He always teaches his daughters to tell the truth. In his words, many people had suppressed the truth for years, or the media had spread wrong information; but he views the truth finally coming out as positive.
Cricket Australia, however, has given no positive signal about a fresh investigation. In a statement CA said that, even after all this time, the opportunity to provide any relevant information remains open. But having considered all the information received so far, it is satisfied with the findings of the investigation at the time.
On the field, Australia are now preparing for a series of three ODIs and five T20s against England. A four-Test series against New Zealand begins on 9 December. Former number-one batter Marnus Labuschagne has not been included in that Test squad. Chief selector George Bailey confirmed that he was dropped for going 49 successive innings without a century and for his poor performance in the South Africa series.
Background
According to a Sky Sports report, ahead of the release of his new book Khawaja claimed that not just Smith, Warner and Bancroft but everyone in the dressing room in Cape Town knew about it; yet CA had maintained all along that no one other than those three knew.
According to a CricTracker report on 8 October, Khawaja’s autobiography ‘Sabr: Finding My Way in Cricket and Life’ is being published by Penguin Books Australia on 10 November; before the South Africa tour he had informed Cummins and CA chief Todd Greenberg about the book’s sandpaper chapter.
At a glance
According to a 2018 report by The News Minute, CA’s investigation identified Warner as the architect of the plan; along with a one-year ban, he was also banned for life from leadership roles in the team.
Sources
Background sources: Sky Sports, November 2026; CricTracker, 8 October 2026; The News Minute, 2018
