Chadd Sayers backs Khawaja’s account, disputes Pat Cummins over 2018 sandpaper episode

Chadd Sayers, a member of Australia’s 2018 touring party to South Africa, told SEN radio on Sunday he believes “everyone” in that Test side knew of the sandpaper ball‑tampering plan and rejected Pat Cummins’ denial of team‑wide knowledge.

Sayers’ remarks come after Usman Khawaja’s autobiography alleged the entire Australian team had knowledge of the sandpaper plot and that ball‑tampering tactics had been used previously. Pat Cummins on Friday described Khawaja’s claims as “complete nonsense” and repeated his denial of any knowledge of the plan. Sayers said he was not taking sides, stating “I’m not taking sides. I’m neutral in all this,. I’m just trying to tell my side of the story and what I believe happened.” The scandal has again engulfed Australian cricket in the wake of Khawaja’s book.

Addressing Cummins’ account, Sayers said: “I’m comfortable sitting here … that I believe that everyone in that side knew what was going on and what was being used.” He also rejected Cummins’ claim that there was no team meeting to discuss collective responsibility and said Cummins’ press conference with Khawaja “felt a bit awkward.”

Sayers criticised the way Cummins confronted Khawaja, adding: “I didn’t like how he [Cummins] did go at Usman and got personal. I probably get why but I don’t think it needed to happen.”

Reflecting on his own place in the tour, Sayers — whose one and only Test match for Australia was played during that South Africa tour — said it had been “a relief now that it’s out there in the open.” He added: “It’s been hard. Because you’ve got to tiptoe around it and not be able to tell the truth. So it’s a bit of a relief that it’s out. That series was supposed to be a happy one for me because I debuted the Test after. But I guess when something like that happens it always gets drawn back to that conversation and not your debut.”

Sayers said he did recall a post‑match discussion about collective responsibility in Cape Town: “We all sat in the change rooms after that day’s play, probably for 60 to 90 minutes, and just talked about what had happened and where to next. It was always going to happen with the seriousness of what the allegations were. So it was about what had happened, where we stood with that, and how we were going to move forward.”

In the aftermath of the Cape Town Test, three players — David Warner, Steve Smith and Cameron Bancroft — were punished following an investigation by Cricket Australia. Earlier on Sunday Warner fired another barb at Cricket Australia in a social media post, doubling down a day after accusing the governing body of a cover up.

After several media reports confirmed bowlers had been interviewed by Cricket Australia in its investigation, Warner on Sunday again took to Instagram to support his previous post, writing: “Just to clarify ‘As far as I am aware’ was the POINT,” and “I was never told the bowlers had been interviewed or provided statements.

Warner added on Instagram: “That information would’ve been pretty useful when I was forced to make decisions back in 2018. Why weren’t we given all the evidence by CA?”