David Warner Accuses Cricket Australia of Ball-Tampering Cover-Up
Former Australia opener David Warner has accused Cricket Australia of a cover-up over its handling of the 2018 Sandpapergate scandal, deepening a rift reopened by Usman Khawaja's new autobiography.
By Alessia Desai ·
David Warner has accused Cricket Australia of a cover-up in its handling of the 2018 ball-tampering scandal, escalating a dispute that has torn the sport apart. The former opener, who served a one-year ban for his role in the Sandpapergate incident in Cape Town, hit out on Saturday at what he described as a shoddy investigation.
Writing on Instagram, Warner questioned the scope of the governing body's 2018 probe. 'As far as I am aware, CA did not interview Josh Hazlewood, Mitchell Starc or Nathan Lyon in their 2018 investigation,' he said.
'If that's correct, then how can CA push the idea that the bowlers didn't know?' he continued. Warner argued that the authorities appeared to have chosen their targets in advance. 'It looks like they had decided who they wanted to blame from the very beginning, ran a shoddy investigation to serve the purpose, and now they want to maintain the false narrative that the bowlers had no idea. That stinks of a cover-up.'
Old wounds over the third Test in Cape Town were reopened this week when Usman Khawaja released his autobiography, in which he alleged that the entire team knew about the plan to roughen the ball with sandpaper so it would swing.
Cricket Australia's original investigation concluded that only then-captain Steve Smith, his deputy Warner and Cameron Bancroft were aware of the plot. All three were sent home from South Africa in disgrace. In a 2021 statement, Starc, Hazlewood, Lyon and Pat Cummins publicly denied knowing about the plan.
Cummins, now Australia's Test captain, held a lengthy news conference on Friday to reject Khawaja's claims, calling them '100 percent wrong'. Warner responded by accusing Cummins of throwing his close friend Khawaja under the bus.
Starc also weighed in during the week, saying 'we weren't aware of things being taken on the field'. Hazlewood and Lyon have yet to comment publicly.
Cricket Australia has ruled out reopening its investigation. In a statement issued on Saturday, a spokesperson said: 'As we have stated previously, all players were given the opportunity to speak at the time of the initial investigation and have had the ability to come forward with new evidence in the eight years since.'
The spokesperson added that 'subsequently, CA has respected every player and former players' right to provide their own version of events.'
