Pat Cummins (Image credit: Cricket Australia)
Australia captain Pat Cummins has strongly denied allegations that he was involved in the plan to use sandpaper to tamper with the ball during the 2018 Test against South Africa.
He has called the claims made by former teammate Usman Khawaja in his autobiography “complete and utter nonsense”.
“When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he’s 100% wrong.
He said he was surprised by the former opener’s claims about Bancroft. “I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper, that’s not the Usman that I know,” Cummins said. The Australia captain said he did not remember any such discussion.
Khawaja’s autobiography was published this week. Last weekend, the former Australia opener claimed that everyone in the team knew about the plan, leading to calls for a fresh investigation into the infamous ball-tampering scandal. Steve Smith , who was Australia’s captain at the time, and his deputy David Warner were banned from elite cricket for one year by Cricket Australia for bringing the game into disrepute. Cummins also spoke about Khawaja’s account of the incident in his autobiography.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Cummins rejected the allegations and said he had consistently denied knowing about the use of sandpaper. I’ve said that consistently for the last eight years,” Cummins told a press conference on Friday.