Cummins Calls Khawaja Sandpaper Claims Utter Nonsense in Sydney Press Conference

Australia Test captain Pat Cummins has dismissed Usman Khawaja's ball tampering claims as complete and utter nonsense. Cummins held a press conference on Friday at Cricket NSW headquarters at Silverwater in Sydney and spoke for more than an hour about the claims in Khawaja's autobiography Sabr, published this week.

Fox Sports reported the press conference lasted 70 minutes at Cricket Central in Sydney and that Cummins heavily implied his friendship with Khawaja has been severely damaged.

What Khawaja claims in the book

Khawaja says in Sabr that the entire Australian team knew about the plan to use sandpaper on the ball during the third Test against South Africa at Newlands, Cape Town, in 2018, Sky Sports reported. Khawaja said last weekend that all the players in the team at Newlands knew about the plot, Reuters reported. "He says that I and others were architects of a scheme to ball tamper with sandpaper. That's complete and utter nonsense," Cummins said, according to Reuters.

"When he says we all knew, if by that he means that we knew sandpaper was going out in the field, he's 100 per cent wrong. I've said that consistently for the last eight years. I did not know that was happening," Cummins said.

The denial from the bowlers

Cummins denied that he, Mitchell Starc, Josh Hazlewood and Nathan Lyon knew about the plan. That repeats the position the four bowlers set out in a joint statement in 2021, Sky Sports reported.

Cummins said there was no master plan, no team meeting and no bowlers' plan to use illegal methods, Cricket Australia's outlet cricket.com.au reported. He said he did not remember any conversation about the team taking collective responsibility.

Khawaja also alleged, Cummins said, Australia used sandpaper on the ball in the second Test of the 2018 South Africa series at Port Elizabeth, and Cummins said that was news to him. Khawaja also claimed Australia experimented with lifting the seam on the ball during the 2017-18 Ashes at home to England, including raising the quarter seam in the third Test at the WACA, Fox Sports reported.

"I was genuinely shocked this week when I found out that Usman admitted that he told Cam to be careful when using sandpaper," Cummins said, according to Reuters.

What happened in 2018

Cameron Bancroft was caught on camera using sandpaper on the ball in 2018. Then captain Steve Smith and vice captain David Warner were banned by Cricket Australia from elite cricket for a year, and Bancroft received a nine month suspension, Reuters reported.

David Warner took to Instagram earlier in the week to back Khawaja's claims that the entire team knew, Sky Sports reported.

Cummins said he had seen a New South Wales team mate use a bottle cap to scratch a ball in a Sheffield Shield match before the South Africa tour, cricket.com.au reported. He said sandpaper on training balls, rubbing them on concrete or using a Stanley knife was common in the nets to simulate reverse swing.

No legal action, and a damaged friendship

Cummins said he would not be taking legal action against Khawaja over the allegations in the book, Reuters reported.

"Usman is a friend, but friends aren't casual with each other's lives and reputations," Cummins said, according to Fox Sports Australia.

The claims in Sabr are Khawaja's claims. Cummins rejected them in full. No new finding against any player was announced in reports of the press conference.